The Advisors' Blog

On The Proxy Season blog on TheCorporateCounsel.net, Liz recently shared a new 44-page report (available for download) from the team at AQTION that gives an up-to-date look at the perspectives of the world’s 65 largest institutional investors (asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, and pension funds) – including the extent to which they rely on proxy advisors, how they’re approaching engagements, and more. (AQTION is a London-based firm providing investor engagement advice using data from SquareWell Partners.)

Although proxy advisors do help these firms gather information about portfolio companies and execute votes, over 90% of votes are linked to the investors’ own custom policies. That means perspectives and reactions to your pay program may differ greatly among your large institutional investors. And, while 2025 updates to voting guidelines have generally become less prescriptive and more principles-based, “investors are increasingly expecting higher standards of board responsiveness to shareholder concerns; this includes on unequal voting rights, and exceptional remuneration, both of which were identified as trend topics for investors.”

With respect to “exceptional remuneration,” which refers to awards granted outside of the standard pay package, the report says 34 out of the Top 65 investors provide insight into their position.

Eight investors (including J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Aberdeen Investments) are against one-off awards “as a matter of principle.”

The remaining 26 take a case-by-case approach and may support special awards outside of where the company can demonstrate “truly exceptional circumstances and significant additional value creation.”

It notes that understanding your top investors’ public positions and voting behavior is more important than ever since investors are less vocal in their engagement with portfolio companies.

– Meredith Ervine