Assignment and Challenges
Our client is a $29 billion market cap APAC traded company that retained us to ensure passage of a proposal to approve the sale of a subsidiary. Alliance Advisors was hired after the circular/proxy statement was filed and after ISS had recommended a vote against the sale. The proposed sale of the subsidiary was to a controlling shareholder at a substantial discount to market. In addition, the sale was not shopped to any other buyers and needed 75 % of those voting to vote in favor.
Upon publication of the ISS Research proxy report with an AGAINST Recommendation, millions of votes against the merger are immediately/automatically cast.
Solution
The company hired Alliance Advisors two weeks prior to Proxy Report Release to devise a Shareholder Engagement solicitation. Alliance Advisors started with Register analysis to determine our strongest points of influence. We then created a narrative supporting the merger with strategic rationale and valuation being the cornerstones of our case.
Our shareholder engagement strategy included proxy report rebuttal and live meetings with key stakeholders. Virtually all these firms and institutional shareholders responded positively to our requests for engagement.
Results
Our Engagement results were successful. Alliance Advisors flipped dissenting votes to the extent that the final FOR percentage was 94.77%