Institutional investors have filed shareholder resolutions at more than 50 corporations as part of a 2013 proxy season initiative asking companies to annually report their federal and state lobbying, according to PIRC. This includes reporting any payments to trade associations used for lobbying as well as support for tax-exempt organisations that write and endorse model legislation.
The National Association of Pension Funds Annual Survey has found less than 10p in every £1 of pension fund assets is now invested in shares in UK companies. The report found the proportion of assets invested in UK equities fell from 12.2% in 2011 to 9.9% in 2012. Meanwhile, the allocation to corporate bonds rose from 12.4% in 2011 to 15.1% in 2012.
DWS Investment has described German communications firm Siemens’ 2012 share price performance – increasing by almost 10% – as “very disappointing” comparable to companies such as Philipps, GE or ABB and the wider German equity market which it said grew by more than 20%. At the company’s AGM last month DWS Investments head of equities Henning Gebhardt said: “The fact that we as shareholders do not have to entirely write-off the year is to a very large degree due to the equity buy-back programme.”
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