Funds Continue to Side With Management on Proxies

Fund companies continue to exhibit abysmal voting records on proxies supported by shareholders, Reuters reports, citing a report from FundVotes.com analyzing proxy voting records at 54 fund groups. Most continue to overwhelmingly side with management.

The fund companies supported 90.7% of management proposals in the latest voting period and only 35.2% of shareholder proposals. Support for management proposals remained steady from 91.3% in the voting period ended June 30, 2006, but support for shareholder proposals dropped from 38.2%.

And in 4.8% of the shareholder proposals, the fund companies abstained, up from 3.4% in the period before.

“The data doesn’t leave us very encouraged,” said FundVotes.com founder Jackie Cook. “I don’t think funds are becoming more activist.”

Excluding socially responsible funds from the mix, funds support only 30.9% of shareholder resolutions but 92.7% of management proposals.