Empty Voting and Securities Lending
- Roy Zimmerhansl
- Jul 23, 2022
- 1 min read
"Empty Voting" occurs when an investor borrows shares and uses them to vote at a company Annual General Meeting (AGM) or Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM). The argument against it is the investor is exercising greater voting control than their economic interest in the company.
The topic has gained interest again due to the recent Assicurazioni Generali AGM where Mediobanca used borrowed shares to augment its already large holding.
In my recent video I explore the topic in more depth and some people don't like my conclusions. What do you think?
I read this post about empty voting and securities lending and how it explains a tricky finance idea in a simple way by breaking down what each term means. It reminded me of when I needed online calculas class help on a tough topic, and getting easy-to-follow explanations made the problems feel less scary. Clear help makes learning easier.
I read the article about empty voting and securities lending and it explains how someone can borrow shares just to vote at a company meeting even if they don’t really own them financially. When my school work was really heavy last term, I even had do my online class for me so I could finish my work and still take time to read posts like this that explain real world finance stuff. It reminded me that understanding big ideas is worth making time for.