Shareholder activism is not a totally new phenomenon in the UK as there
were historical suggestions of owners' engagements in the era of
chartered companies (pre-incorporation period). There have also been
many evidences of unconventional and uncoordinated shareholder
engagement techniques especially by minority shareholders after the
Second World War up to 2006 when the 2006 Companies Act recognised the
need to make it easier for shareholders to present resolutions at
general meetings. These developments, alongside various deliberate
actions by government and international organisations like UNPRI in
increasing shareholder engagement, together with other new developments
like integrated reporting systems, responsible investing, and climate
change, have given rise to various forms of activism which have not been
documented and analysed by previous writers.
This book discusses the consequences of these historical developments
and explores the various theoretical perspectives that have shaped
shareholder engagement, shareholder activism gaps, motivations, its
forms and effects, and comparative shareholder activism based on
practice from other jurisdictions. These topics are fully discussed and
analysed from a critical perspective.
Shareholder resolutions submitted in the UK between 2007 and 2017 are
also analysed, and this demonstrates the emerging powers and the
conflicted roles of proxy advisors, social investors and other
influential investors such as UKSA and ShareSoc in the UK investment
chain. Other emerging issues such as the usefulness of analysis of
analyst type investors meetings are also critically discussed.