Dec 5, 2020 | 2020, 2020 Q3, Issues, Records Management, Shareholder Services
The OPTIMIZER editors - and other professional “Wall-Street-Watchers” too - are always avid watchers of the “tombstones” that describe the terms of newly proposed Mergers and Acquisitions - and especially those “Offers to Purchase for Cash” - in newspapers of record...
Dec 5, 2020 | 2020, 2020 Q3, Issues, Transfer Agents
The SEC’s August 27th Release institutes a Cease and Desist Order on a virtual kitchen-sink of violations, including failure to transfer and turn securities around within required time frames, failure to report their failures to do so, failures to properly safeguard...
Dec 4, 2020 | 2020, 2020 Q3, Issues, Proxy
The OPTIMIZER’s sister-company, CT Hagberg LLC, provided the Independent Inspector of Election in September at what we believe was the second Virtual-Only proxy contest to date, at a small bank in the Midwest. Three of the bank’s investors, with roughly 30% of the...
Dec 2, 2020 | 2020, 2020 Q3, Annual Meetings, Featured, Issues, Virtual Meetings
A month or so ago we suddenly realized that a feature that made the best VSMs so special had gone totally unremarked. So we emailed a little preview of the article we intended to write in this issue to our great friends at TheCorporateCounsel.net. “Here’s another...
Dec 2, 2020 | 2020, 2020 Q3, Annual Meetings, Issues, Virtual Meetings
As public companies have learned to their dismay and consternation this year, a “Virtual-Only” Meeting of Shareholders requires issuers - and the service suppliers they utilize - to give both registered and street-name holders the ability to cast their votes in...
Dec 2, 2020 | 2020, 2020 Q3, Annual Meetings, Issues, Virtual Meetings
It’s October 2020, and the chances that public companies will be able to responsibly host in-person Shareholder Meetings any time before October 2021 are virtually ZERO - unless in-person attendance can be strictly rationed to include only the most essential...
Nov 11, 2020 | 2020, 2020 Q3, Annual Meetings, Issues, Virtual Meetings
The most troublesome issues at 2020 VSMs - by far - have revolved around the Question and Answer Period: Just as we had warned, many activist investors took pains to submit questions - both in advance, via an e-mail to the company’s Investor-Page - or by typing into a...
