On this page you can search our voting activity for all company meetings in relation to which we received a portfolio’s ballots and had the opportunity to exercise the underlying voting rights. Rationale is provided where we voted against the recommendations of management and on all shareholder proposals. Please note that the voting data does not include client-specific portfolios managed on a segregated basis. Not all strategies are available in all jurisdictions. Data covers stewardship activities in relation to investments of Newton Investment Management Limited, Newton Investment Management North America LLC and Newton Investment Management Japan (together, ‘Newton’). Please see the ‘Important information’ below the dashboard for further details on our approach to voting.
Important information
Newton votes on behalf of its clients where it has been authorised to do so. We seek to make proxy-voting decisions that are in the best long-term financial interests of our clients, and we seek to support investor value creation by supporting proposals that are consistent with our corporate governance views and investment case.
Voting decisions are based on Newton’s voting guidelines, and our stewardship team applies in-depth case-by-case analysis for those issuers and/or proposals which merit greater focus due to the materiality of our investment or the importance of the issue at hand (e.g. shareholder resolutions, corporate actions, related-party transactions). In these instances, communication with or input from the wider investment team may be sought, as well as, if relevant, engagement with the company.
Our active approach to voting means that our voting decisions reflect our investment rationale and take into consideration engagement activity, if any, and the company’s approach to relevant codes, market practices and regulations. These are applied to the company’s unique situation, while also taking into account any explanations offered for why the company has adopted a certain position or policy.
Our ability to exercise voting rights may be hindered by practical considerations. For instance, in certain markets, shares for which a vote is instructed are ‘blocked’ from trading for a number of days until the general meeting has concluded. In markets where share blocking is practised, we will vote only when the resolution is not in shareholders’ best interests and where restricting the ability to trade does not risk adversely affecting the value of clients’ holdings. Another common barrier to voting is the requirement at market or company level for a power of attorney to be in place. In cases where our clients have not put these powers of attorney in place, we will not submit a vote.
We may also opt out of exercising voting rights if the entity or persons related to the entity are subject to economic sanctions.
As would be expected owing to the nature of the underlying investments, a majority of voting activity takes place for equity and multi-asset portfolios, which invest in listed equities that are, generally, required to hold annual shareholder meetings. For fixed-income investments, there are few instances of proxy voting being undertaken owing to these securities not carrying the same ownership rights as equity securities.
A full description of how we apply voting decisions can be found in our governance principles and voting guidelines document.