BlackRock Starts to Use Voting Power More Aggressively
Asset manager signals it is boosting its support of shareholder-led environmental, social and governance proposals 30 April 2021
Dawn Lim of Wall Street Journal (WSJ) writes how the world’s largest asset manager is showing it is more willing to use its heft to influence the policies of the companies it invests in.
In the article, WSJ notes that BlackRock has so far increased its support for shareholder-led environmental, social and governance (ESG) proposals, and published a slew of criticisms of public companies that haven’t bent to its overall requests.For the roughly 170 ESG shareholder proposals it voted on during the first half of the proxy year, BlackRock backed 91% of environmental proposals, 23% of social proposals and 26% of corporate-governance proposals.
Ali Saribas comments to Dawn Lim some companies have started to complain that BlackRock’s recent votes have come without warning or a proper rationale. “BlackRock’s approach will fuel a rising frustration among companies that believe BlackRock’s stewardship team will most likely apply a tick-the-box approach given the sheer volume of companies they passively own,” Ali added.
The full article can be accessed here (subscription required).
