Do Pension-Related Business Ties Influence Mutual Fund Proxy Voting? Evidence from Shareholder Proposals on Executive Compensation

Abstract

We examine the relation between mutual fund votes on shareholder executive compensation proposals and pension-related business ties between fund families and the firms. In unconditional tests, we find that fund families support management when they have pension ties to the firm. We find no relation when we stratify by fund family in conditional tests, which suggests that fund families with pension ties vote with management at both client and non-client firms. We confirm this result in an analysis of non-client firms. Overall, our results suggest that pension related business ties influence fund families to vote with management at all firms.

Keywords: Proxy Voting, Mutual Funds, Executive Compensation, Shareholder Rights

JEL Classification: G30, G23