Chile’s Financial Market Commission (CMF, for its Spanish translation) issued General Rule No. 533 (NCG 533) on March 12, 2025, which defines the requirements and conditions for being considered an independent director and...more
On 4 February 2025, Martin J handed down judgment in Glendina Pty Limited & Ors v NKWE Platinum Ltd (2025) SC (Bda) 15 Civ. It is the first “fair value” appraisal claim on a merger or amalgamation under the Companies Act 1981...more
On February 17, 2025, significant amendments to the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the DGCL) were proposed directly by the Delaware General Assembly via Senate Bill No. 21, signaling important updates for...more
Delaware Supreme Court reaffirms that “the test for actual control by a minority stockholder is not an easy one to satisfy.” Supreme Court makes clear that control by a minority stockholder is “not presumed.” Supreme Court’s...more
Overview Limited liability companies (LLCs)—curious creatures of state law—often file bankruptcy. Bankruptcy courts have, therefore, developed a dynamic body of law to evaluate the “bankruptcy remoteness” of LLCs, assessing...more
In a recent enforcement action, the SEC concluded that the relationship between James Craigie and an officer of Church & Dwight Co. fatally undermined Craigie’s status as an “independent director” of the company under New...more
Welcome to the latest edition of Fenwick’s Securities Law Update....more
Welcome to the latest edition of Fenwick’s Securities Law Update. This issue contains updates and important reminders on...more
On April 4, 2024, the Delaware Supreme Court issued its opinion in In re Match Group, Inc. Derivative Litigation, clarifying that the heightened entire fairness standard of review applies to judicial review of any transaction...more
“Was the richest person in the world overpaid?” That’s how the Delaware Court of Chancery (the Court) began the 200-page opinion in Tornetta v. Musk to rescind Elon Musk’s entire $55.8 billion 10-year equity compensation...more
Public company directors are under more pressure than ever to oversee enterprise risk, even risk from day-to-day operations, which is normally addressed by management. Egregious failures of upper management to react to red...more
In this paper, Seven Gaping Holes in Our Knowledge of Corporate Governance, from the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford, the authors observe that it “is extremely difficult to produce high-quality, fundamental...more
The Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) published a public consultation paper proposing to amend the Listing Rules to impose a hard nine-year limit on the tenure of independent directors, removing the current two-tier...more
Are corporate boards awash in faux gatekeepers? This article, Board Gatekeepers, from a law professor at the University of Wisconsin, begins with a catalogue of infamous board failures to act as effective monitors of company...more
On April 28, 2022, Vice Chancellor Slights of the Delaware Chancery Court issued a verdict for the defense in In re Tesla Motors, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, a long-running derivative lawsuit challenging the 2016 acquisition...more
Directors must cope with constantly shifting challenges. To help boards navigate these, Skadden launched The Informed Board, a periodic collection of concise articles that provide broad insights about key issues directors...more
Takeaways - Independence is neither a fixed condition nor a universal status for all purposes. Events and relationships can disqualify an otherwise independent director from participating in decisions.. No matter how pure a...more
In our November 2, 2021 blog post, we highlighted a number of considerations for the 2022 proxy season. Based on recent developments, the following are some additional items...more
As we head into a new proxy season, this SEC order involving settled charges against Leaf Group Ltd. might be a good case to keep in mind. In this case, the SEC charged that Leaf did not adequately identify and analyze—and...more
ISS recently released updated methodology for its Governance QualityScore (GQS) rating system for institutional investors. The new factors relate to areas of emerging concern to investors, with 11 of the 17 new factors...more
Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) published its proxy voting guidelines updates for 2021 (“Policy Updates”) on November 12, 2020. The changes that are likely to be of most interest to companies include new and...more
Board Decision Making in a Down Cycle - The last several months have been unprecedented in terms of how quickly and drastically business environments have changed. With widespread uncertainty and financial distress...more
Part 1 of a weekly series detailing approaches that Independent Board Members are utilizing to address Coronavirus-related matters and highlighting emerging issues. As veterans of the asset management industry — having...more
Publicly traded companies need to know whether a director qualifies as "independent" for a variety of reasons. Item 407 of Regulation S-K, for example, requires issuers to identify each director that is independent. In...more