As we approach AGM season, the value in investor analytics becomes ever more tangible. Equiniti’s partnership with Orient Capital allows clients to understand how shareholders intend to vote through proxy solicitation. This indispensable service for securing shareholder support has recently been enhanced as a result of Orient Capital’s acquisition of one of the oldest proxy solicitation companies in the world, D.F. King Ltd.
Robert Hemming, Head of Relationship and Business Development at Equiniti Investor Analytics, says the move is great news for Equiniti's clients: “With the integration of Orient Capital and D.F. King’s proxy activities, we can offer our clients unrivalled capability in this critical area. It's another piece in the jigsaw. We have live access to the register movements and the proxy voting instructions. If you then couple that with the range of services the Investor Analytics team offers in partnership with Orient Capital it all makes for a very joined up approach." He continues:
A number of our clients are currently using different suppliers to source this kind of information. The feedback that we have been getting indicates that now they can get what they need from one reliable, collaborative source, it’s a much better offering.
D.F. King has been evolving services in proxy solicitation since it was established in 1942. Having the benefit of more than 70 years of experience to draw upon, it has had exposure to some very high-profile campaigns that complement Orient Capital’s existing expertise in proxy. As a result, the group’s proxy offering will now be exclusively marketed under the D.F. King Ltd name in the EMEA region. Alison Owers, EMEA CEO of Orient Capital says:
The company has worked on some incredibly large and very well-known campaigns. Equiniti’s clients can only benefit from the breadth of D.F. King’s expertise.
D.F. King’s services can be used in all sorts of corporate actions that Equiniti clients may encounter: AGMs, EGMs, takeovers, activist defences, bond tenders and corporate governance advisory.
“D.F. King’s approach has always been to get involved with an issuer further in advance of an AGM notice being put out to the market,” says Caroline Hall, European Proxy/M&A Director at D.F. King. “If possible, we try to get involved in the draft resolution writing process. This allows us to work with an issuer to provide input into their draft resolutions before they are set in stone. Issuers need to know whether or not they are likely to be acceptable to a shareholder and any potential points of contention that they might have with some of their investment communities. We try to pre-empt any sort of negative response to resolutions in advance of their publication.”
Technology plays an important role in the proxy solicitation process. Orient Capital’s unique miraqle® platform provides clients with a transparent barometer on the probable outcomes of their meetings. “Our investor outreach campaigns translate into real-time vote tracking within miraqle®, which additionally provides a suite of reporting options that can be presented to senior management,” Caroline explains.
The technology, the breadth of experience and the dedicated Investor Analytics service all combine to set Equiniti's offer apart from our competitors. "We’re already getting feedback that if everything is in one place, it's a preferable route for our clients to take," says Rob.
For more information, please contact:
Robert Hemming - Head of Relationship and Business Development
Investor Analytics, Equiniti
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7469 1884
robert.hemming@equiniti.com
Ezine issue: April 2015