Seminar Calendar, Accounting and Law
Mutual funds’ strategic voting on environmental and social issues
11 Jan 2023 | 2:30 p.m.. — 4:00 p.m.
KK 301
SPEAKER
Professor Roni Michaely
Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship
The University of Hong Kong
ABSTRACT
Environmental and social (ES) funds in non-ES families must balance incorporating the stakeholder’s interests they advertise and maximizing shareholder value favored by their families. We find that these funds support ES proposals that are far from the majority threshold, while opposing them when their vote is more likely to be pivotal, consistent with greenwashing. This strategic voting is not exhibited in governance proposals, by ES funds in ES families or by non-ES funds in non-ES families, reinforcing the notion of strategic voting to accommodate family preferences while appearing to meet the fiduciaries responsibilities of the funds.
