Harvard Corporate Governance

OCTOBER 20, 2022

As we continue our IPO-related Viewpoint series, we note the marked reduction in the number of traditional or SPAC-related initial public offerings (IPO) in 2022 when compared to 2021 IPO-activity. This article focuses on understanding practices related to equity awards made at or around IPO.

Equity 147

Equity Marketability 147

Harvard Corporate Governance

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

Decoupling”—the unbundling of the rights and obligations of equity and debt through derivatives and other means—has posed unique challenges for corporate and debt governance. In 2021 and 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted out proposals directed at decoupling, as well as other proposals that may affect decoupling.

Equity 203

Equity Banking Finance Marketability 203

Harvard Corporate Governance

AUGUST 19, 2022

CFO turnover is running high, with 2021 surpassing 2020 and 2019 churn rates, Russell Reynolds Associates’ recent analysis of the S&P 500 revealed. In 2021, there were 89 CFO transitions in the S&P 500, bringing CFO turnover to 18%—the highest its been in the past few years. Strine, Jr. more…).

Equity 162

Equity Marketability 162

Harvard Corporate Governance

APRIL 21, 2023

In July 2021, State Street Global Advisors, Russell Reynolds Associates, and the Ford Foundation partnered to study best practices for effective board oversight of racial and ethnic diversity, equity, and inclusion (“ The Board’s Oversight of Racial and Ethnic Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ”).

Equity 313

Equity Marketability 313

Harvard Corporate Governance

JULY 29, 2024

3] It got even better in 2021. Overall, some $210 billion of equity capital was raised by nearly 750 large U.S. SPAC IPOs from 20192022, with the majority of capital ($126 billion) raised in 2021. [4] 4] (more…)

Marketability 255

Marketability Corporate Finance Finance Equity 255

Harvard Corporate Governance

SEPTEMBER 5, 2023

More pay equity-related proposals see significant levels of shareholder support. Pay equity, a significant focus for investors and activists, saw increased shareholder proposal activity in the first half of 2023. While still a low absolute number, this is nearly double the number of proposals received in each of 2021 and 2022.

Equity 113

Equity 113

Harvard Corporate Governance

JUNE 5, 2022

How to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion on boards is no one-size-fits all approach; however, with increasing attention to this issue, regulations in specific states have attempted to push diversity forward. With more attention to diversity in society, boardrooms are no exception.

Equity 277

Equity 277

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 19, 2022

Leading into 2021, the big questions facing investors were about how quickly economies would recover from COVID, with the assumption that the virus would fade during the year, and the pressures that the resulting growth would put on inflation. The year that was.

Risk Premium 98

Risk Premium Risk-free Rate Start-ups Equity 98

Harvard Corporate Governance

MAY 16, 2022

However, within the most prevalent topics for disclosure, we are observing more data being included, particularly when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion. To see how this disclosure is evolving, we analyzed 103 filings from S&P 500 companies for the 2021 fiscal year. Public companies in the United States (U.S.)

Equity 299

Equity 299

Harvard Corporate Governance

AUGUST 15, 2022

Diversity has become a key focus for every industry in recent years, and private equity, like many other parts of the financial sector, still has significant progress to make in terms of diversity and inclusion.

Equity 237

Equity Finance Marketability 237

Global Finance

JUNE 17, 2024

A 10-year veteran at DBS Bank, Karoonyavanich recently expanded his role to cover all Equity Capital Markets business for the bank globally when the firm merged its equities, fixed income and brokerage businesses to form a new Investment Banking unit. in 2021 to an impressive 6.7% in the same period.

Equity 111

Equity Marketability Banking Start-ups 111

Brian DeChesare

MARCH 13, 2024

Over the past few decades, growth equity (GE) has gone from an afterthought to a major asset class for huge investment firms. Some argue that GE offers the best of both worlds: the opportunity to fund innovation and growth – as in venture capital – plus the ability to limit downside risk and invest in proven companies – as in private equity.

Equity 105

Equity Start-ups Marketability Banking 105

Harvard Corporate Governance

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

more…)

Marketability 229

Marketability Finance Equity 229

Harvard Corporate Governance

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

The deal volume in 2021 reached levels not seen in recent years, a trend that continued into the first part of 2022. The markets in 2022 still have an abundance of capital for both corporate and private equity (PE) to fund deals. This post is based on their PwC memorandum. Introduction. But since then, the markets have shifted.

Marketability 301

Marketability Equity 301

Harvard Corporate Governance

NOVEMBER 2, 2022

Private debt funds raise capital commitments through closed-end funds (like private equity) and make senior loans (like banks) directly to, mostly, middle-market firms (i.e. firms with annual revenue between $10 million and $1 billion). Despite its explosive growth, the private debt market remains relatively understudied. more…).

Banking 220

Banking Equity Marketability Finance 220

ThomsonReuters

JANUARY 6, 2022

Department of Labor Supplemental Statement on Private Equity in Defined Contribution Plan Designated Investment Alternatives (Dec. 21, 2021); DOL News Release 21-2132-NAT (Dec. The 2020 letter responded to concerns raised by large plan sponsors with experience handling private equity investments in defined benefit plans.

Equity 97

Equity Compliance 97

Harvard Corporate Governance

JUNE 13, 2022

In our 2021 survey of the People’s Priorities , “The board of directors holds executives accountable to the interests of its workers, customers, communities, and the environment, as well as shareholders,” emerged as the third-most important Issue to the public, representing over 10% of our Rankings model. That includes the American public.

Equity 317

Equity 317

Harvard Corporate Governance

JULY 30, 2022

These amendments would cause some of the most active participants in our equity and fixed-income markets to be required to register with FINRA. These firms’ September 2021 off-exchange listed equities dollar volume executed was approximately $789 billion, which was approximately 9.8% 1 [link] (go back). go back).

Equity 187

Equity Treasury Technology Marketability 187

Harvard Corporate Governance

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

As predicted in our previous M&A report, 2022 has not lived up to the runaway performance of 2021. Either way, buyers dependent on acquisition financing will need to adjust for this accordingly—potentially, by using their cache of dry powder to write larger equity checks. This post is based on their White & Case memorandum.

Finance 247

Finance EBITDA Equity Marketability 247

Harvard Corporate Governance

JUNE 20, 2023

In our recent research, we show how such transition risk exposure is already priced into equities and bonds issued by publicly-traded corporations ( Bolton and Kacperczyk, 2021 ; Lazard Climate Center, 2021 ; Bolton et al.,

Finance 214

Finance Equity Marketability 214

Harvard Corporate Governance

AUGUST 18, 2022

With US inflation running at a 40-year high and a rocky first half of the year for both equity and fixed income markets globally, uncertainty is high. Flows into ESG exchange-traded funds, while slowing down compared to 2021, have remained positive this year. more…).

Dividends 173

Dividends Equity Marketability 173

Harvard Corporate Governance

AUGUST 14, 2022

Compare that to 47 companies that did the same in all of 2021, the highest number of such deals in more than a decade, according to Dealogic. Dry powder is partially fueling these transactions as private equity firms compete to buy the best companies at the best prices, pushing them to look at the public markets for inspiration.

Private Equity Firm 255

Private Equity Firm Compliance Equity Marketability 255

Harvard Corporate Governance

OCTOBER 7, 2022

As early as 2015, activist shareholders have put forth proposals asking companies to implement diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and to provide more disclosure of the same. Yet this pursuit of moving the needle towards the goal of achieving more positive results in the workplace on DEI has recently been met with resistance.

Banking 253

Banking Equity 253

Harvard Corporate Governance

OCTOBER 17, 2022

On December 15, 2021, the SEC released a new proposed rule that would significantly expand required disclosure concerning an issuer’s repurchases of its equity securities listed on a U.S. Related research from the Program on Corporate Governance includes Insider Trading Via the Corporation (discussed on the Forum here ) by Jesse M.

Equity 213

Equity 213

Harvard Corporate Governance

OCTOBER 19, 2022

Accordingly, the charters of companies with dual-class structures often provide that any “transfer” (broadly defined) by the original high-vote stockholders will result in automatic conversion of the transferred shares into the company’s ordinary, low-vote shares. [1]

Equity 259

Equity Capital Structure 259

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 21, 2023

In 2022, we needed that reminder more than ever before, especially after markets came roaring back from the COVID drop in 2020 and 2021. We invest in equities expecting to earn more than we can make on risk free or guaranteed investments, but the risk in equities is that actual returns can deviate from expectations.

Equity 93

Equity Risk Premium Start-ups Dividends 93

Harvard Corporate Governance

NOVEMBER 27, 2022

The vast majority of S&P 500 companies are now tying executive compensation to some form of ESG performance— growing from 66 percent in 2020 to 73 percent in 2021. Companies are embracing different approaches to factoring ESG into executive pay and are continuing to refine their ESG measures as they expand their reach.

Compliance 351

Compliance Finance Equity Marketability 351

Harvard Corporate Governance

JULY 16, 2023

Wang; and Share Repurchases, Equity Issuances, and the Optimal Design of Executive Pay (discussed on the Forum here ) by Jesse M. According to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler, “In 2021, buybacks amounted to nearly $950 billion and reportedly reached more than $1.25 Fried, and Charles C.Y.

Dividends 244

Dividends Equity Marketability 244

Financial Times M&A

APRIL 25, 2023

Plus, Wall Street lawyers mourn their 2021 bonuses and a top Vodafone shareholder eyes its board composition

Equity 98

Equity 98

Harvard Corporate Governance

MAY 15, 2022

Significant volatility continues to disrupt the equity markets, with the major stock indexes swinging multiple percentage points often on a daily basis. economies have had an undeniable impact on the pace of M&A activity so far in 2022.

Marketability 247

Marketability Market Risk Equity 247

Harvard Corporate Governance

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

trillion in aggregate announced globally in 2021, according to Dealogic —up 67% in value compared to 2020. billion were recorded in H1, down 19% in volume and 44% in value compared to a bumper H1 2021. This trend has gathered momentum over recent years, with 9,155 carve-outs worth US$2.3 A total of 3,837 deals worth US$641.8

Equity 255

Equity 255

Harvard Corporate Governance

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

BlackRock Voting Spotlight—A Look Into the 2021-2022 Proxy Voting Year. Tags: Institutional Investors , International governance , Mergers & acquisitions , Private equity , Shareholder activism , Shareholder voting , SPACs , Universal proxy ballots. Fisch (University of Pennsylvania), on Wednesday, September 7, 2022.

Equity 202

Equity Banking 202

Harvard Corporate Governance

JUNE 3, 2022

2021 Climate & Voting Review and Global Trends. Tags: Banker bonuses , Banks , Equity-based compensation , Executive Compensation , Financial institutions , Risk-taking , Stock options , Systemic risk. Diamond and Henrik Patel, White & Case LLP, on Saturday, May 28, 2022. on Saturday, May 28, 2022.

Equity 223

Equity Banking 223

Harvard Corporate Governance

JUNE 6, 2022

mutual funds and assets that have an ESG orientation in 2021. [1] From the perspective of the private equity firm that invested in Oatly, investment in a sustainable brand could signal that sustainability can be profitable. It is hardly news that ESG investing is a significant aspect of the asset management industry.

Private Equity Firm 214

Private Equity Firm Equity Marketability 214

Harvard Corporate Governance

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Just two years later, in the fourth quarter of 2021, those assets stood at nearly $3 trillion. We measure Active ESG Share over the period 2004 through 2021 for a large sample of actively managed U.S. equity mutual funds. In the fourth quarter of 2019, the assets of ESG-based mutual funds stood globally at nearly $1 trillion.

Finance 256

Finance Equity Marketability 256

Brian DeChesare

MAY 17, 2023

Ever since the 2008 financial crisis, there has been massive hype about both private equity and technology. Over the past few decades, technology private equity has gone from “barely existing” to representing the largest single sector in PE by both deal value and deal count. Why Did PE Firms Start Buying Tech Companies?

Equity 64

Equity Technology Private Equity Firm Start-ups 64

Harvard Corporate Governance

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Fried; Share Repurchases, Equity Issuances, and the Optimal Design of Executive Pay (discussed on the Forum here ) by Jesse M. Related research from the Program on Corporate Governance includes Paying for long-term performance (discussed on the Forum here ) by Lucian A. Bebchuk and Jesse M. more…)

Equity 162

Equity Marketability 162