IR Leader
November 25, 2014

Top Stories

The Growth Trap: Why Investors Want Cash Now Instead of Future Gains

Barry Schwartz believes a company that is increasing its dividend or buying back shares is a far better investment than one more committed to raising capital expenditures. The chief investment officer at Baskin Financial Services Inc., a wealth management firm in Toronto, thinks it's a no-brainer.

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UCITS in Canada - Opportunities for Growth

New streamlined and nationally harmonized regulation and a large pool of potential investors make Canada an attractive distribution market for UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) funds, according to a new report by RBC Investor & Treasury Services and Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) entitled UCITS in Canada: Driving business growth through cross-border fund distribution.

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New Cooperative Capital Markets Rules Affect Civil Liability for Misrepresentation, Insider Trading

Given the scope of the new proposed federal and provincial legislation, Blakes is publishing a series of bulletins regarding various aspects of the proposed Cooperative System. This bulletin focuses on how the Cooperative System will affect the civil liability of public issuers and their officers and directors in connection with public disclosures and insider trading.

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Taking a Broader Perspective on Disclosure and Compliance

The securities regulatory model is founded on the principle of disclosure - the more information an investor receives, the better equipped she will be in making investment decisions - or so the conventional thinking goes. Whether the current disclosure requirements are sufficient and effective for protecting investors remains the subject of active debate within the regulatory community.

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"Golden Leashes" Are Back: Will Shareholder Activists Win This Round?

After taking a break this past proxy season, "golden leash" arrangements are back in the spotlight. A few days ago, Third Point LLC proposed so-called "golden leash" arrangements for their two nominees to the board of Dow Chemical Co.

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New Canadian Voting Guidelines For 2015 Proxy Season

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass Lewis have issued their Canadian proxy voting guidelines for the upcoming proxy season.

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More Transparency, More Pay for CEOs

"It's very seldom that publishing compensation accomplishes much for the shareholders. No CEO looks at a proxy statement and comes away saying, 'I should be paid less.' " Warren Buffett made that contrarian argument earlier this year, at the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, about the steady push for companies to disclose compensation in increasingly specific detail in the name of transparency.

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The Meaningful Return of Shareholder Access (Part 2)

In the aftermath of the Business Roundtable, shareholder access has largely been left to private ordering. A number of shareholder proposals have been submitted to public companies asking management to provide shareholders with access to the proxy statement. A number have received majority support, although the numbers have been modest.

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The SEC Might Be Aiding Rapid-Fire Traders

High speed traders are Wall Street's ugly ducklings. They have come under fire for using sophisticated computer technology to game the market. Now one of the regulators overseeing them may actually be helping the rapid traders, according to a study released Friday by researchers at Columbia Law School.

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Canada Introduces Resource Sector Transparency Act to Fight Corruption

On October 23, 2014, the Canadian government introduced the Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (the "Act"). The purpose of the Act is to implement Canada's international commitments to participate in the fight against corruption through the implementation of measures applicable to the resource sector. Specifically, the Act requires entities involved in the commercial development of oil, gas or minerals to publicly disclose certain payments they make to governments.

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