Vancouver-based Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE) is singling out three “say-on-pay” votes that were carried out in the most recent proxy season as key votes in its survey of fund managers’ voting practices.
SHARE released what it calls its “key vote list” for its annual proxy vote survey today, highlighting advisory votes on executive compensation, or “say-on-pay” votes, that took place at Barrick Gold Corp., CP Rail, and Canadian Natural Resources over the past year.
The firm says that the proposal at Barrick received a record breaking 85% vote against management, after the miner paid its top five executive officers a total of $56.8 million, despite recording a net loss of $670 million last year.
Pay votes at CP Railway and Canadian Natural Resources were also strongly opposed, it notes.
The proxy vote survey is an annual survey of the discretionary voting practices of investment managers and proxy voting services. It aims to provide pension trustees, foundations, and other institutional investors an opportunity to encourage their investment managers and proxy providers to disclose how they voted on 21 of the most important ballot issues in the most recent proxy season.