UnitedHealth Group Inc. shareholders defeated all shareholder proposals, according to a preliminary tally announced at the Minnetonka, Minn.-based company’s annual meeting today.
Shareholders voted 42.2% in favor of a proposal sponsored by the $245.3 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System, Sacramento, seeking access to the corporate proxy statement for shareholders that own 3% of UnitedHealth stock for two years to nominate two directors.
The $9 million AFL-CIO Reserve Fund, Washington, sponsored a proposal on performance-based equity compensation that received 41.2% of the vote. Hermes Investment Management, owned by the £38.4 billion BT Pension Scheme, London, sponsored a proposal seeking an advisory vote on executive pay. Shareholders voted 38.9% in favor.
The $901 million Massachusetts Laborers’ Pension Fund, Burlington, sponsored a proposal seeking to limit executive supplemental pension benefits; it received 28.6% of the vote in favor.
UnitedHealth board’s proposals, including a requirement for a majority vote to elect directors and for annual election of directors, were approved with votes ranging from 85.7% to 94.3%, and directors were elected with at least 74.8% of the vote.
CalPERS withheld its votes for the election of three directors and opposed the proposal to limit supplemental executive pensions; it supported all the other board and shareholder proposals. Among proxy-voting advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services supported all board and shareholder proposals; Proxy Governance supported all board proposals and opposed all shareholder proposals; Egan-Jones Proxy Service supported all the proposals except for performance-based equity compensation.
