ESG Focus Areas
35
Good Governance
In our good governance focused active ownership activities, we aim to safeguard shareholder value and sound management of ESG risks and other risk types in portfolio companies.
Our goal is to protect and enhance long-term returns for shareholders. We believe a sound corporate governance structure is essential for creating sustainable, long-term share- holder value. As stated in our RI Policy, we expect companies affected by these governance-related risks to ensure that they report on how they manage the risks and impacts adequately:
tal mandates. Although we experienced a slight decrease in participation compared to 2023 due to shifts in fund composi- tion, we nonetheless exceeded our objective of voting in over 90% of our investee companies' meetings. While we generally aligned with management proposals, we exercised our discre- tion to vote against 10% of agenda items when they either conflicted with our unitholders' best interests or where against our Corporate Governance Principles. Board composition One of the most important tasks of a company’s board is to provide strategic direction and monitor and evaluate top management, and in our view this aspect can be compro- mised if the CEO of the company also serves as chair of the board. Over the last couple of years, we have supported many share- holder proposals to split the roles CEO/chair, including in com- panies like Cisco, Meta and Amazon. We regularly engage with companies to explain this voting rationale, and we try to be as proactive as possible to get the companies, to alter the board proposals to be in line with our expectations. In 2024, NAM voted against the combination CEO/chair at 127 shareholder meetings. NAM believes that a board should be diversified in terms of gender, experience, age and other factors. A board should preferably consist of at least 40% of either gender. The board should also have a majority of independent directors, and they should have sufficient time to dedicate to board work.
Corruption: We expect companies to take a proactive approach towards corruption and responsible payments and ensure that adequate measures are implemented, and transparency is being elevated. Diversity: We expect the board to be diversified in terms of gender, experience, age and other factors. Tax: We expect our portfolio companies to have a tax policy that outlines the company’s approach to taxation and how it aligns with the overall business strategy. We also expect companies to have a robust tax governance and management framework in place, to pay taxes where economic value is created and to provide country-by-country reporting
Exercising Voting Rights in Numbers In 2024, we voted on more than 3,550 shareholder meetings, voting on thousands of agenda items covering critical issues including climate change, diversity, remuneration, and capi-
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease