Prepare In Advance For A Proxy Battle

Defense of a proxy challenge is a daunting challenge and an expensive one, writes Kroll’s Dave Holley. He cites a study showing that average cost of a proxy contest through the first half of 2014 was $4.8 million. In this post, he outlines what boards and management can do in advance of a challenge, starting with developing the ability to sense “shareholder rumblings” early on. Every public company should have a proxy response team, he writes. He suggests who should be on it, what kinds of resources it should tap, and the details of what it should look for and how it should proceed.