Tag: SLB 14K

Corp Fin issues SLB 14K—it’s “ordinary business” again

Just in time for proxy season, the Corp Fin staff has issued a new Staff Legal Bulletin 14K on—what else—shareholder proposals and the “ordinary business” exclusion.  The SLB attempts, once again, to provide some insight—following SLB 14I (see this PubCo post) and SLB 14J (see this PubCo post) which also address the “ordinary business” exclusion— regarding the staff’s interpretation of Rule 14a-8(i)(7), including:

company-specific significance of policy issues;
board analyses submitted in no-action requests to demonstrate that a policy issue raised by the proposal is not significant to the company; and
the application of “micromanagement” as a basis to exclude a proposal under Rule 14a-8(i)(7). Notably here, the staff attempts to explain the thinking behind its treatment of various climate change proposals submitted last proxy season.
In addition the SLB addresses “proof-of-ownership” letters.