Indian proxy firm successfully hits a nerve

Videocon Industries (India)

07/11/2017 02:35

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions 
expressed are her own.) 
    By Una Galani 
    MUMBAI, Nov 7 (Reuters Breakingviews) - ITC, the $50 bln 
hotels-to-tobacco group, is alleging defamation over criticism 
of its board. Institutional Investor Advisory Services didn't 
persuade shareholders to vote against the chairman's pay. The 
case nevertheless is a turning point for scrutinizers of Indian 
governance. 
 
    Full view will be published shortly. 
    On Twitter https://twitter.com/ugalani 
     
    CONTEXT NEWS 
    - Indian hotels-to-tobacco conglomerate ITC filed a 
defamation case against independent proxy firm Institutional 
Investor Advisory Services seeking damages of 10 billion rupees, 
or about $155 million, according to the lawsuit.  
    - The allegations filed against the proxy firm in August in 
the Calcutta high court relate to two reports published in July 
recommending that shareholders vote against the proposed pay 
package of Yogesh Deveshwar, ITC's non-executive chairman, who 
was previously chairman and chief executive for more than two 
decades.  
    - Shareholders subsequently voted in favour of his 
compensation.  
    - The owners of IiAS include Fitch, Axis Bank, ICICI 
Prudential, Kotak Bank and Tata Investment.  
    - ITC and IiAS both declined to comment on the case. 
    - For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can 
click on  GALANI/    
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IiAS report on ITC    https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/91c61f_44dd384c617d46d9be41468cb6f0a4ce.pdf 
ITC notice of AGM    http://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachHis/8b3f66db-b876-4123-85f4-0a8cab153a2c.pdf 
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 (Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Katrina Hamlin) 
 ((una.galani@thomsonreuters.com;  Reuters Messaging: 
una.galani.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: ITC PROXY/BREAKINGVIEWS