Georgeson's summary of noteworthy updates to MFS’s recently released proxy voting guidelines for 2021 identifies these (and other) subtle but important changes:
- Board Diversity - MFS will generally vote against the Nom/Gov Committee Chair if the board is comprised of less than 15% female directors (same as last year) but may consider in its voting decision - among other factors - whether the company is transitioning towards increased board gender diversity, and may increase the minimum percentage of gender diverse directors and/or expand its policy to consider factors beyond gender to enhance diverse perspectives of the board, including race, ethnicity or geographical location.
- Board leadership – MFS will evaluate independent chair proposals on a case-by-case basis even if the company has a strong, independent lead director.
- Proxy Analysis - If, based on MFS's prior direction, ISS or Glass Lewis expects to vote against management with respect to a proxy matter and MFS becomes aware that the company has filed or will file additional soliciting materials sufficiently in advance of the voting deadline, MFS will consider such information when casting its vote.
The memo also illustrates MFS's 4-year voting history on director elections and independent chair proposals. Its support for directors has declined from 97.4% in 2017 to 94% in 20202, and its support for independent chair proposals has increased from 19.2% in 2017 to 39.4% in 2020.
Access additional institutional investor proxy voting policies/guidelines on our Institutional Investors page >>Proxy Voting Guidelines.