Ownership rights
The management of ownership rights is an important opportunity to encourage good corporate governance in investee companies. This reflects the Board’s view that good corporate governance (how an organisation is structured, operated and controlled and how it manages environmental, social and regulatory responsibilities) protects and creates value.
Furthermore, the Board is obliged under the Future Fund Act 2006 to have regard to international best practice for institutional investment in determining its approach to corporate governance (including in relation to its voting policy).
The Board’s approach to managing ownership rights, including details of its voting principles, is detailed in its Statement of Investment Policies and also discussed in its annual report. Through its public equities program the Board holds interests in approximately 3,000 companies globally, with the 20 largest holdings summarised here.
The Board, through the Agency, takes direct control of the exercise of voting rights that accrue through its holdings in publicly-listed Australian companies.
Responsibility for exercising voting rights in the global public equities portfolio is delegated to the Board’s external investment managers, subject to close oversight by the Agency and regular reviews of the managers’ ownership practices and policies. The right to override managers and determine voting decisions directly is retained.
An aggregate view of how voting rights were exercised in the 2010/11 is available here. Our annual reports provide additional discussion of our approach and data for previous years.
Page Last Updated:
13 December 2011