With a 20% participation of Ethos in the capital of Proxinvest, the two institutions hope to reinforce their positions as the Swiss and French market leaders in the field of proxy voting advisory services. Closer collaboration will allow to take advantage of synergy benefits in the development of new products and in information technology and make available increasingly effective customer platforms.
Ethos and Proxinvest provide institutional investors with an array of services enabling the exercise of shareowner rights, in particular to vote at general meetings. The two institutions specialize in agenda analysis, voting recommendations and voting execution. Both are members of the European
Corporate Governance Service (ECGS), the largest European network of proxy voting advisors.
For Pierre-Henri Leroy, Chairman of Proxinvest, “Quality analysis and proxy voting services require indepth knowledge of companies, legislation and best practice. By drawing closer together, Ethos and Proxinvest will be able to expand their services and add to their expertise.”
Ethos Executive Director Dominique Biedermann adds, “Investors have understood that it is in their interest to exercise their shareowner rights systematically and in an informed manner. For this, they increasingly turn to independent local specialists for assistance”.
Ethos and Proxinvest also aim to contribute to raising standards in corporate governance and shareholder voting policies, in particular by publishing various studies and bringing together investors. To this effect, Proxinvest will establish a steering committee made up of well-known corporate governance specialists and chaired by Ethos.
Ethos Foundation (Geneva)
Ethos, Swiss Foundation for Sustainable Development, was created in February 1997 by two Geneva-based pension funds and is currently composed of 92 institutional investors. Its purpose is to promote socially responsible investment (SRI) and a stable, prosperous socioeconomic environment. Ethos organizes various SRI events and publishes studies in the field of corporate governance and corporate social
responsibility.
The Ethos Foundation is a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment and participates in several international investor groups, in particular the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). In 2009, Ethos received the ICGN Award for its significant contribution to the improvement of corporate governance in its region and in recognition of the “Say on Pay” campaign, whereby a resolution requesting companies to implement an advisory vote on their remuneration report was filed at many Swiss listed companies and received significant support.
The Foundation fully owns the company Ethos Services, which conducts all investment and consulting activities. Ethos Services is specialized in SRI and offers the following services:
Thank you for your support to our campaign for free Internet voting