Jan. 26, 2024 - Important guidance on “acting jointly or in concert” in a proxy contest was provided by the British Columbia Securities Commission (Commission) in NorthWest Copper Corp. (December 22, 2023). The Commission declined to find a joint actor relationship between a dissident and another...
Let’s Take This Online: Virtual Shareholders’ Meetings in 2020 and Beyond
Chapter 5 of Davies Governance Insights 2020
In Canada, virtual shareholders’ meetings began growing in popularity in 2019. A year later, they have become the new normal in a period devoid of normalcy. In this chapter, we explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the landscape of annual shareholders’ meetings, and discuss key considerations for issuers evaluating whether and how to hold a virtual meeting in the current and post-pandemic eras. We expect the number of virtual-only meetings in 2021 to be significantly higher than that in 2019, particularly in the absence of a vaccine prior to the start of the 2021 proxy season; however, in the medium to long term, we predict a substantial portion of Canadian reporting issuers will revert to in-person meetings supplemented by a virtual component (i.e., hybrid-virtual meetings).
This chapter appears in the 2020 edition of Davies Governance Insights, our comprehensive annual report on the trends and issues most important to Canadian public companies.
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Governance Insights: 10 Trends that GCs and Boards Need to Know
Jan. 24, 2024 - The latest edition of Davies’ Governance Insights is now available. In this issue, we explore 10 important trends that will help general counsel and boards navigate the year ahead. In order to help you with your strategic and compliance planning, we discuss issues including the...