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