Morrison & Foerster's "Shareholder Proposal No-Action Letters - 2019-2020 Review" reveals the firm's analysis of the 232 responses to no-action requests that SEC staff issued or posted in its Shareholder Proposal No-Action Responses Chart between November 21, 2019 and August 31, 2020, including the disposition of the requests, and the bases for and takeaways from staff's responses. On an overall basis, the staff issued letters in response to approximately 10% of no-action requests during this time frame and concurred with about 70% of requests for exclusion that were not withdrawn, with no-action grants most often citing Rule 14a-8(i)(10) (substantial implementation) and Rule 14a-8(i)(7) (ordinary business). The key takeaways on page 2 are supported by relevant background and detail in the body of the report.
See our prior reports: "2020 No-Action Requests: Lessons Learned" and "Status Report: Rule 14a-8 No-Action Process Changes" and additional information & resources on our Proxy Season 2020 and Shareholder Proposals pages. This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!