Proxy Voting in Australia's Largest Companies

Abstract

This research report, published jointly by the Centre for Corporate Law and Securities Regulation at the University of Melbourne and Corporate Governance International, contains the results of a study of proxy voting at a sample of major listed Australian companies during 1999.

When institutional shareholders do vote, they typically do so by way of appointment of proxies. This study examined lodgment of proxy instructions for annual general meetings of large Australian listed companies as a means of determining the extent to which institutional investors vote.

The report: (a) presents and analyses voting figures on the election and re-election of directors – including total figures and also a breakdown of votes for, against, abstaining and discretionary; (b) presents and analyses voting figures on controversial resolutions; (c) provides separate figures for widely held companies and companies having a large shareholder; (d) provides comparisons with figures for the US, the UK and Germany; (e) discusses the regulatory and practical framework within which voting takes place; and (f) discusses the role of shareholder voting as a corporate governance mechanism.