Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, won’t propose legislation to give shareholders access to the corporate proxy statement to nominate directors.
“The advisory vote (on executive compensation) is a kind of a test for boards of directors,” he said today at the conference of the Council of Institutional Investors in Washington. “We will see how they perform” if shareholders object to executive compensation in the advisory vote. It’s a step-by-step process,” he said. “The first thing we will see is how they (boards) do with advisory votes.”
Mr. Frank expressed concern about job losses at companies acquired in private equity deals. He didn’t go into detail but said of private equity firms: “if you start to recognize unions at the companies you acquire, you will save yourself a lot of grief with Congress.”
On hedge funds, he said, “I don’t see a need for any kind of massive legislation. … We will continue to monitor (hedge funds).” He also said legislators will be “taking a look” at derivatives.
