November 15, 2018
Lawyers as Pro Wrestlers
Recently, I paid a visit to my old firm (Fredrikson & Byron) to interview my former colleague Zach Olson, a partner in the M&A group – about his side gig as a professional wrestler. You may have seen John’s blog about Zach’s bold adventures on “The Mentor Blog,” but I wanted to get more info about this unique endeavor – and how a deal lawyer has time (and nerve) for it.
In our 19-minute podcast, Zach confirmed my suspicion that he’ll dive into just about anything he thinks is remotely interesting. We also covered:
– How do you think your skills as a lawyer help you in the ring?
– How do you think your skills as a wrestler help you in negotiations/practicing?
– What’s been the most surprising thing about wrestling since you started?
– What’s the most common question people ask you?
MSCI Plans to Launch New “Dual-Class” Indexes
I have to say, MSCI strikes me as the “middle child” of stock indexes. “Dual-class” (or more) share structures have been a hot-button issue, especially since Snap’s IPO. Unlike FTSE Russell & S&P Dow Jones – which both quickly announced last August that they’d exclude companies with unequal voting rights – MSCI took 18 months to gather everyone’s opinions. And as I’ve blogged, it turns out that institutional investors are more interested in a regulatory fix that encourages equal voting structures, versus restrictions by indexes. So recently, MSCI announced a compromise that’s intended to satisfy everyone.
As described in this WSJ article, in early 2019, MSCI will launch a new suite of market indexes that exclude companies with unequal voting structures. They’ll be an addition to MSCI’s existing indexes, which will continue to include broader investment alternatives. Here’s what MSCI says about its solution (also see this Davis Polk blog – and this “Money Stuff” column that questions the impact of choices like this on so-called “passive” investors):
MSCI supports fully the one share one vote principle as we believe that having equal voting rights should be an important consideration in equity investing. The one share one vote principle has also gathered overwhelming support from participants in the consultation. The treatment of unequal voting structures in equity benchmarks, however, has proven to be a polarizing question among international institutional investors.
For instance, while many participants felt strongly that benchmarks should be adjusted to reflect unequal voting structures, other participants highlighted that the question of unequal voting rights should be addressed holistically by the stakeholders that are responsible for operating, regulating and investing in equity markets. These stakeholders include, among others, securities regulators, stock exchanges, asset owners and asset managers.
MSCI continues to believe that global market benchmarks, such as the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes, should aim to represent the broadest investment opportunity set available to international institutional investors based solely on the investability of the underlying markets. Investable market benchmarks should not be constrained by specific investor opinions, preferences or constraints including governance issues. This point has been articulated by many international investors, including asset owners and managers globally, who clearly highlighted the critical need to find the right balance between investor views and comprehensive representation of the investable equity universe.
It’s Done: 2019 Executive Compensation Disclosure Treatise
We recently wrapped up Lynn, Borges & Romanek’s “2019 Executive Compensation Disclosure Treatise” — and it’s printed. This edition has the latest insights from the first year of pay ratio disclosure – as well as Corp Fin’s recently-updated proxy CDIs. All of the chapters have been posted in our “Treatise Portal” on CompensationStandards.com.
How to Order a Hard-Copy: Remember that a hard copy of the 2019 Treatise is not part of a CompensationStandards.com membership so it must be purchased separately. Act now as this will ensure delivery of this 1620-page comprehensive Treatise soon. Here’s the “Detailed Table of Contents” listing the topics so you can get a sense of the Treatise’s practical nature. Order Now.
– Liz Dunshee