TheCorporateCounsel.net

August 23, 2011

The Future is Here! E-Forums for Shareholders Meetings

Want to hear some mind-blowing numbers when it comes to shareholder participation for an annual meeting online? In this podcast, Jared Brandman of The Coca Cola Company describes his company’s experience using an e-Forum for an annual shareholders meeting for the first time, including:

– What was your first year’s experience with the e-Forum like?
– How much work did the Forum end up being, both before and after the annual meeting?
– How hard was it to convince senior management to try the e-Forum?
– For those out there considering a Forum, what pointers would you give them now?

The “Man U” IPO: Singapore Bound!

Although relatively rare, there certainly are precedents for sports teams to sell stock to the public (egs. Green Bay Packers; Florida Panthers). But it’s big news that the most popular team in the world – Manchester United, a UK football (ie. soccer) team – is selling a minority interest in an IPO. No, this high profile company will not be listed in the US – nor will it be listed in the United Kingdom. The owners have chosen Asia – but not even Hong Kong. It will be Singapore as noted in this Business Insider article.

Did you know that the Boston Celtics even sold securities to the public at one point in time? It was structured as a limited partnership, but the LP owners were all bought out in ’02 when the team’s controlling ownership changed hands. The Cleveland Indians were also publicly traded for a time in the ’90s.

SEC Adopts Rules to Suspend Duty To File Asset-Backed Reports Under Section 15(d)

Last week, the SEC adopted rules under Section 942(a) of Dodd-Frank to provide certain thresholds for suspension of the reporting obligations for asset-backed securities issuers.

– Broc Romanek