May 6, 2008
Sample: Wal-Mart Reacts to Advance By-Law Cases
In the wake of the two recent Delaware Chancery Court cases (Levitt Corp. v Office Depot; JANA Partners v. CNET) regarding advance by-laws, some companies are taking the memos posted in our “Advance By-Laws” Practice Area to heart. Essentially, the memos urge companies to specify in their Notice that the agenda item on director elections applies only to the election of director candidates described in the company’s proxy statement; not to nominations generally. For example, when Wal-Mart filed its proxy statement recently, it limited its state law notice to only those nominees “named in the attached proxy statement.” Compare Wal-Mart’s notice from last year.
Another example is the proxy statement filed by the Canadian company, Storm Cat Energy Corp. Interestingly, Storm Cat is incorporated in British Columbia, so it’s not directly impacted by the recent Delaware decisions. (By the way, it’s a cool name for a company, although I have a beef with them – when you click on “Annual Reports” on their IR web page, the 2005 glossy is the latest!)
J-SOX is On!
A few years in the making, Japan now has it’s own version of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The J-SOX rules became effective on April 1st and they apply to about 3,800 Japanese listed firms, their large subsidiaries and affiliates. The new rules are bound to have their own challenges. Learn more in our “J-SOX” Practice Area.
2008: The Year of the Hedge Fund Activist
Join DealLawyers.com tomorrow for the webcast – “2008: The Year of the Hedge Fund Activist” – to learn about the latest strategies and tactics used by hedge fund activists, as well as latest planning tips employed by those that seek to stave off these attacks. The panel includes:
– David Katz, Partner, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
– Ron Orol, Senior Writer, The Deal and The Daily Deal
– Damien Park, President & CEO, Hedge Fund Solutions, LLC
– Veronica Rendon, Partner, Arnold & Porter LLP
– Professor Randall Thomas, Vanderbilt University Law School
– Christopher Young, Director of M&A Research, RiskMetrics Group
The Williams Act – 40 Years Later!
On May 21st and 22nd, Georgetown University Law Center will be hosting a conference to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the Williams Act takeover regulations. The speakers and panelists will include members of the SEC staff, academics, financial journalists, international takeover regulators, practitioners, bankers, and Delaware judges. It’s free – but you still need to register (here is the agenda). If you have questions, contact Larry Center at center@law.georgetown.edu.
Earlier that week, Corp Fin will be hosting a meeting of international takeover regulators at the Commission’s headquarters – so representatives from the UK, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Australia and Japan will likely be at the Georgetown conference, lunch and reception if you want to rub elbows with a group of regulators.
– Broc Romanek