The international network of local independent proxy advisors, Expert Corporate Governance Service (ECGS) has complemented its footprint in Europe by entering into a partnership agreement with Spain´s CORPORANCE Asesores de Voto (CORPORANCE), the first local proxy advisor and provider of advisory services to Spanish institutional investors. It will also cover the Portuguese market.
With this agreement, CORPORANCE joins the partnership of leading local European firms in this field, such as Proxinvest (France), Ethos Foundation (Switzerland), DSW (Germany), Frontis Governance (Italy), VIRV Solutions (Netherlands), and Manifest (UK). Its inclusion completes the map of key European partners and, like them, will offer independent, local expertise on corporate governance matters for companies listed in Spain and Portugal.
Established in 2001, ECGS offers impartial advisory services solely to investors, maintaining complete independence from corporate issuers to prevent any conflicts of interest. Its mission is to address investors’ need for insightful corporate governance advice, customised to local cultural and legal practices.
ECGS accounts for almost 90% of total European market capitalisation (free-float adjusted) thanks to its extensive network of partners providing proxy voting advice, corporate governance ratings, bespoke voting policies and company engagement, as well as customised reports, data delivery and monitoring.
Loïc Dessaint, CEO of Proxinvest (founded in 1995) and Managing Partner of ECGS, extolled the virtues of this important development by noting that: “we are very happy to add a Spanish member to our partnership. I am convinced that CORPORANCE will bring a great deal of local expertise and in-depth knowledge of the Spanish market and corporate governance best practices. We are also confident that this agreement will help Spanish institutional investors to play a more active role in their relationship with European listed companies”.
Juan Prieto, Managing Director of CORPORANCE, a banking and corporate professional with over 30 years of international experience, praised the new alliance, stating it was “an honour as well as a great opportunity to become a partner of ECGS and work alongside a team of prestigious professionals that I have known well for a long time. I feel we are very well supported by this partnership to help Spanish investors increase their engagement activities with listed companies and to better understand local corporate practices of Spanish issuers.”.
Loïc Dessaint added: “Juan will make a great contribution to ECGS, its present and future activities, and will help us further develop our product offering and expand our footprint.”
With the upcoming review of the Shareholder Rights Directive, aimed at further encouraging transparency for institutional investors and asset managers, and shareholder activism, we will see a significant improvement in investor activity, with them exercising their stewardship role and fiduciary duties in a much more active way.