Proxy voting behavior of institutional investors: Evidence from TIAA-CREF

A Marble Capstone Project Presented to the School of Business and Economics (SBE)

Bachelor Thesis , 2010 , 36 Pages , Grade: 9.0

Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance

This thesis analyzes the voting behavior of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF). As one of the largest financial services companies in the United States, with over 426 billion Dollar in combined assets under management as of 31 of March 2010, the fund is using proxy voting as a tool to promote positive returns from their investments. This thesis relies on a database constructed out of SEC N-PX lings over a period of six month. The results indicate that TIAA-CREF only withholds directors their vote in a moderate amount of cases. In addition, the fund voted more often against management at proposals cast by shareholders concerning board structures and shareholder rights than at proposals concerning other corporate governance issues.

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Introduction
• Related Literature
• Sample
• Classification Scheme and Descriptive Analysis
• Results, Limitations and Opportunities for Further Research

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This thesis aims to analyze the voting behavior of TIAA-CREF, a major financial services company in the United States, with a focus on their use of proxy voting to promote positive returns on investments. The study utilizes a database constructed from SEC N-PX filings over a six-month period to investigate the extent to which TIAA-CREF utilizes proxy voting to express dissatisfaction with management's corporate policies, withhold director votes, and influence management's willingness to remove anti-takeover defenses.

• The role and effectiveness of shareholder activism by institutional investors
• The voting behavior of TIAA-CREF in relation to corporate governance issues
• The impact of institutional investor involvement on corporate performance
• The relationship between shareholder proposals and management's willingness to adopt value-increasing policies
• The influence of factors like firm size, financial performance, and board composition on shareholder voting decisions

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

• Introduction: This chapter provides an overview of shareholder activism and its evolution as a tool for influencing corporate governance. It introduces TIAA-CREF and their active corporate governance strategy, highlighting their use of proxy voting to encourage positive changes in company policies.
• Related Literature: This chapter reviews existing research on shareholder activism, focusing on studies that examine the impact of shareholder proposals on firm performance, the voting behavior of institutional investors, and the factors that influence their decisions.
• Sample: This chapter explains the composition of the sample used in the study, which consists of proxy votes from SEC N-PX filings for TIAA-CREF during the period of July 1, 2004 to December 31, 2004. The chapter details the selection criteria and the characteristics of the sample.
• Classification Scheme and Descriptive Analysis: This chapter presents the classification scheme used to analyze the proxy votes and provides a descriptive analysis of the voting behavior of TIAA-CREF. It examines the frequency of withheld votes, the types of corporate governance issues that TIAA-CREF focuses on, and the relationship between their voting decisions and management's actions.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

The primary keywords and focus topics of this thesis include: proxy voting, shareholder activism, institutional investors, corporate governance, TIAA-CREF, SEC N-PX filings, board structures, shareholder rights, anti-takeover defenses, firm performance, and voting behavior.

• College: Maastricht University
• Grade: 9.0
• Author: Christian Wilk (Author)
• Publication Year: 2010
• Pages: 36
• Catalog Number: V174185
• ISBN (eBook): 9783640946570
• ISBN (Book): 9783640946754
• Language: English
• Tags: proxy, evidence, tiaa-cref, marble, capstone, project, presented, school, business, economics, department, finance, maastricht, university, partial