2016 Proxy Season: the rise of "noisy minorities"

First considerations on 2016 proxy season in Italy: during the recent AGM of some public companies, such as Azimut and Cerved , small shareholders have rejected the requests of managers on compensation. They are more organized but they bite less, in the end.

The importance of the opinion of the proxy - the governance consultants -  is increasing, as well as the investors awareness, and in some cases structured funds organized themselves  in order to actively participate to the general meetings, even if they tend to fall into line during the meeting itself.

Fabio Bianconi, Sodali Director for Italy, notes on Milano Finanza that the case of Azimut and Cerved, that see two resolutions on remuneration rejected, is relevant – although a negative vote is not binding, it has an important return in terms of reputation.