Title: Prsentation PowerPoint
1 Initiatives for Responsible Investors
2OVERVIEW
- PhiTrust Active Investors
- Methodology, achievements and lessons learned
- Main European governance issues
- Our products
- Annexes
- Achievements and past initiatives
3Who are we?
- PhiTrust Active Investors is an independent asset
management company under the French AMF Regulator
(July 99) and is owned by its management team. - PhiTrust Active Investors has a unique approach
to responsible initiatives and shareholder
engagement in France and Europe, through
dedicated investment products and overlay
mandates with an aim to improve corporate
governance practices on behalf of its
institutional investors. - PhiTrust Active Investors is also very active in
social and community investing through its
foundation and social venture fund.
under Branics name and Phitrust Finance in 2003
4Our mission statement
- EXCELLENCE financial performance is our
objective. - TRANSPARENCY we act in coordination with
targeted companies. - LONG TERM our investments are long term.
- DIALOGUE we do not engage in litigation cases
with companies. - INDEPENDANCE we remain independent of our
external advisors and partners.
5OVERVIEW
- PhiTrust Active Investors
- Methodology, achievements and lessons learned
- Main European governance issues
- Our products
- Annexes
- Achievements and past initiatives
6PhiTrust Active Investors scope of engagement
- In line with the analysis of Proxinvest / ECGS on
the quality of corporate governance of its
underlying holdings, PhiTrust Active Investors
proposes initiatives to improve corporate
governance through regular meetings with company
chairmen. - PhiTrust Active Investors actively participates
in each AGM of its underlying holdings by
preparing oral and written questions and filing
resolutions. - PhiTrust Active Investors has established its
voting policy in line with its institutional
investor base. - Our public initiatives have been widely supported
by French, European, US and Australian investors.
7Methodology of active ownership
The Technical Committee relies on ECGS analysis
of company corporate governance practices
- Target identification final approval by the
technical committee
Company Analysis
Governance Diagnosis
Choice of targets
2. Proposal agreed by PhiTrust Active Investors
and implemented by the Technical Committee
Written request to the Chairman
Interviews for a constructive dialogue with the
Chairman/ Managing Board
Amendments or new resolution filings
3. Communication to investors and to the wider
public
8A proven experience in shareholder initiatives
- In 2007, PhiTrust Active Investors initiated over
50 one-to-one meetings with Chairmen and CEOs of
two thirds of the CAC 40 corporate list. - private initiatives 143 in 2004, 162 in
2005, 169 in 2006, 292 in 2007, 427 in 2008. - PhiTrust Active Investors engagement team
attended 57 AGMs in 2006 and 62 in 2007. - 3 resolutions filed at AGMs in 2005, 1 in 2006
and 5 in 2007 with the support of numerous
international and French investors.
9PhiTrusts key initiatives since 2005
Removal of voting right limitations
Shareholder right to present resolutions
Board structure changes
10OVERVIEW
- PhiTrust Active Investors
- Methodology, achievements and lessons learned
- Main European governance issues
- Our products
- Annexes
- Achievements and past initiatives
11European companies still face governance issues
- Shareholder democracy remains weak
- Unfair access to AGMs (Italy)?
- Unequal voting rights, voting right limitations,
stichting in the Netherlands, poison
pills - Corporate controls remain inefficient
- Inadequate separation of powers
- Independence of Board Members and Board
Committees is not always respected - Shareholder role remains limited during AGMs.
- Some company practices are really surprising
- Unfair transactions in favor of partners to the
detriment of minority shareholders - Insufficient and misleading communication
- Attribution of advantages by the board which not
controlled by the shareholders (compensation,
options, retirement plans)?
12The European Commission is slowly moving towards
greater uniformity
- Shareholder principle One Share, One vote
- European commissioner Mc Greevy publicly
expressed that they will not propose it, - Mainly because it seems impossible to reach any
agreement among European countries. - Voting practices are far from unified
- Custodians should facilitate trans-voting by the
end of 2008, - Local regulations are still very different,
- Procedures are far from being uniform,
- An internet solution ?
- The introduction of OMNIBUS accounts may lead to
less transparency - European regulator has pushed towards OMNIBUS
accounts, - Though US experience shows it is not good for
investors, and boards ...
13A growing protectionism in Continental Europe
- Governments fear International investors taking
control of their companies - Fear of Sovereign funds,
- Fear of LBO funds,
- Fear of Emerging markets tycoons or fast growing
emerging market companies ... - Boards fear being bought by competitors/funds
where... - They do not know their investor base,
- They have few contacts with institutional
investors, - They are obliged to develop short-term financial
strategies if they are to be considered by
analysts... - Even long-term investors are too often perceived
as short-term investors - They seek short-term financial performance and
rarely take in account underlying social,
environmental costs, - They lend their stocks and consider themselves
shareholders while they are not ... - For tax reasons, they often prefer stock lending
to voting at AGMs...
14Shareholders do not protect their interests
- They are active to promote better governance, but
- They vote for resolutions at AGMs which are
clearly against their interest, - They vote to renew board members who have proved
to be incompetent ! - They support company strategies which are clearly
not in their best interest, - They often elect a majority of non independent
directors .... - They often do not vote at an AGM which is not
important - Boards do not feel they are supported by their
shareholders, - Investors do not believe voting is a priority,
- Boards and shareholders must have a relationship
built on mutual trust, - They do not vote if they are invested in indexed
or structured products - Indexed funds are very large shareholders,
- Structured products can be designed with voting
policies.
152008 key governance issues
- Voting right caps
- Still maintained five CAC40 companies Danone,
Schneider Electric, Lafarge, Total, Soc Gen. - Double voting rights
- See the case of Saint Gobain with Wendel
Investissement (17,8 of the capital), - SOCIETE GENERALE
- The outcomes of the Kerviel affair or the Soc
Gen affair? - Managing Board independence Total, Soc Gen,
Alcatel-Lucent.
16Our focus is shareholder engagement
- PhiTrust has two strategic partnerships
- With PROXINVEST in France and the ECGS in Europe
for company analysis, - With ETHOS in Switzerland to conduct Engagement
initiatives in Europe. - Phitrust Active Investors has an extensive and
reliable network of contacts among all CEOs and
Board members from French corporations. - PhiTrust Active Investors aims at being a
constructive shareholder, developing strong
relationships with company directors and creating
long-term partnerships.
16
17OVERVIEW
- PhiTrust Active Investors
- Methodology, achievements and lessons learned
- Main European governance issues
- Our products
- Annexes
- Achievements and past initiatives
18Our products
- PhiTrust offers its investors two shareholder
advocacy strategies - A Governance Overlay Program,
- Two European investment funds
- A French indexed SICAV invested on Cac40
- An active French fund invested in European
companies.
18
19Our Governance Overlay program
- On behalf of their institutional investors,
PhiTrust Active Investors offers discretionary
mandates for corporate governance initiatives to
manage and follow-up - Voting policy
- Implement voting policy,
- Manage voting instructions,
- Follow up with custodians,
- Engagement
- Analyse corporate governance practices of the
underlying investment portfolio - Decide on possible initiatives to be undertaken
- Contact and discuss with company leaders
- Represent investors at AGMs
- Manage and follow-up on resolutions and oral
questions
19
20Shareholder engagement our primary business
Two distinct investment strategies to improve
Corporate Governance
Euro Active Investors Bottom up
strategy European LARGE and MID CAPS Corporate
goverance initiatives on selected stocks in the
portfolio
Proxy Active Investors Passive index
strategy French LARGE CAPS Corporate governance
engagement on all stocks in the portfolio
Goal Replicate the CAC 40 index
Goal A positive regular return
21OVERVIEW
- PhiTrust Active Investors
- Methodology, achievements and lessons learned
- Main European governance issues
- Our products
- Annexes
- Achievements and past initiatives
22Phitrusts achievements in 2007
LAFARGE the resolution filed by the Sicav to
limit the 5 voting right limitation until 2011
reached 54 of the vote. DANONE, SCHNEIDER
ELECTRIC and TOTAL 4 resolutions were filed by
the Sicav and reached 29, 34 and 54
respectively. ALCATEL LUCENT the resolutions
to remove the voting right limitation provision
filed by the Sicav reached 71 of the votes. This
provison was consequently removed from company
by-laws
Removal of voting right limitations
23Past initiatives
ARCELOR, STMICROELECTRONICS, EADS these
companies do not authorize their shareholders to
present resolutions at AGMs. PhiTrust has
actively urged these three companies to introduce
this provision in their by-laws or articles of
associations. ARCELOR the Chairman of the
Board is willing to introduce modifications to
the by-laws, i.e a shareholder with a 1 stake
can file a resolution. PhiTrust has been
discussing this issue with them since 2003.
STMICROELECTRONICS any external resolution has
to be agreed by a preliminary Board approval.
STM, has formally accepted to inform its
shareholders in the event the Board refuses a
draft resolution.
Shareholder right to file resolution
24Past initiatives
- MICHELIN the company is a partnership with
double voting rights for its European
shareholders. The Advisory Board is composed of
only 5 members. - Thanks to PhiTrusts initiative, the company
introduced two statutory modifications in 2005 - Removal of the geographical clause regarding
double voting rights. - Extension of the Advisory Board to 7 members.
Board structure changes
25Contacts
Denis Branche Luis de Lozada
denis.branche_at_phitrust.com luis.delozada_at_phitr
ust.com Martina von Richter Olivier de
Guerre martina.vonrichter_at_phitrust.com olivier.
deguerre_at_phitrust.com Past performances do
not guarantee future performances and they are
not constant over time. Fund performances are net
of fees. Fund performances are expressed dividend
included, while the reference index excludes
dividends. The value of an investment can fall or
rise as a result of market fluctuations and
investors may not get back the amount originally
invested. This document is not contractual, it is
strictly limited to the private use of its
addressee. The information about the fund
provided on this page does not constitute an
offer. It should be used for information purposes
only and it must not be interpreted as being a
sales offer or a share purchase offer. The
information supplied in this document is not
exhaustive and its accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
The assessments formulated in this document
reflect Phitrust Active Investors' opinion at the
date of publication and may be revised at any
time. PHITRUST ACTIVE INVESTORS Tel 33 (0) 1
55 35 07 55 www.phitrust.com