Shareholder activism is on the upswing in Canada even as activists’ success rates are declining, according to a report published Thursday from Toronto-based Kingsdale Advisors.
Kingsdale’s 2018 Proxy Season Review finds there have already been 29 proxy contests in Canada so far this year. By comparison, there were 32 in all of 2017, and at this time last year, there had been 21 contests.
“Clearly, activism continues to be a popular investment style and an important tool for investors looking to extract value or halt what they see as value erosion,” the report states.
However, activists have only won about half of this year’s proxy contests, which is down from 63% in full year 2017. “Interestingly, the activist win/loss ratio differs greatly from what’s happening in the U.S. where, this year, the activist win rate stands at 72%,” the report states.
Activist success rates in the energy have plunged from 50% in 2017 to 0% in 2018. and, success rates in the materials sector have also declined, from 77% in 2017 to 40% this year.
“This can partially be attributed to increasingly well-defended issuers and shareholders realizing the inherent difficulties of enacting change in a fluctuating commodity price environment,” the report states.
“2018 is on pace to be another eventful year for shareholder activism in Canada but what’s changed is the fact management has struck back, driving activist success rates down. This is opposite to what we are seeing in the U.S. and speaks to the steps Canadian boards have taken in recent years to prepare,” says Wes Hall, executive chairman and founder, Kingsdale, in a statement.
In addition to rise in shareholder activism, environmental, social, and governance-(ESG) driven investing continues to enjoy strong growth. ESG investing is being “integrated into portfolios at a growth rate of 17% a year”, and there is increased shareholder support for ESG-related proposals in Canada. “Boards must prepare themselves as this trend will grow with institutional investors and activists taking a greater interest in ESG,” the report states..
Gender diversity on public company boards is also improving, albeit slowly. “New policies, implemented earlier this year, by proxy advisors ISS and Glass Lewis, have contributed to gains in gender diversity,” the report states. All of the companies that belong to the TSX 60 index now have at least one woman on their board, according to the report, and just 3% of S&P/TSX composite index companies don’t have any women.
“While TSX mainboard issuers still considerably lag behind, with 29% of boards lacking female representation, new proxy advisor polices to be implemented at the beginning of 2019 that demand a formal gender diversity policy and female representation, should motivate boards to be proactive in recruiting more women,” the report states.