委托书争夺战

出自 MBA智库百科(https://wiki.mbalib.com/)

委托书争夺战(Proxy fight)

　　委托书争夺战即投票代理权争夺，英文为Proxy fight，或作Proxy battle，就是第3方要透过股东选举的方式，来改变现有董事会成员的做法，以达到特定目的。通常发生在购并案双方谈判无法达成共识时，可能采取的手段，例如买方有意出价收购1家公司，但公司董事会或主要股东并不同意出售，而买方就可能采取委托书争夺战的方式，获得其他股东(通常为股份较少的小股东们)的支持，说服其余股东支持出售公司，或是取得其他股东的委托书授权，来进行投票通过购并案。

　　最近有名的案例，即为微软(Microsoft)拟购并雅虎(Yahoo!) ，但后者不愿出售，一度引发微软扬言要展开委托书争夺战，强行收购，不过后来并未实行，近来Microchip和On Semiconductor拟联手购并Atmel遭拒，亦表示发动委托书争夺战为选择之一。

　　另外，委托书争夺战也是维权股东(activist shareholder)常使用的手段之一，维权股东可借此说服小股东同声一气对抗投资公司的管理层，著名的维权股东Carl Icahn就曾多次为了积极争取投资公司的董事会席次，展开委托书争夺战。

　　一般来说，委托书争夺战适用于几种情况：一是目标公司管理层确实有严重问题；二是作为要约收购的配套措施，特别是通过改选董事会来解除其所设置的防御措施，以降低敌意收购的成本；还有一种情况是作为善意收购的后盾，意在警告对方不要敬酒不吃吃罚酒。最近的微软收购雅虎就是如此：我来跟你谈判；你谈就谈，你不谈或者谈不成，我就有可能改选董事会，把你换掉。

　　Proxy: a document whereby a shareholder appoints someone else to vote for him. (quorum requirement; voting in person/by proxy)

　　Proxy solicitation: sending a proxy card to a shareholder requesting him to sign and return it to the sender.

　　Proxy fight/contest: any competition between two competing factions (generally management and outside insurgents) to obtain shareholder votes on a proposal (much like a political campaign); most proxy fights involve the election of directors, and are thus direct contests for control; about 1/3 proxy fights are contest over some proposal by management or by a shareholder-insurgent (usually relates to a corporate takeover or restructuring/anti-takeover defenses/poison pill)

(Obtaining control by owning a majority of shares/obtaining a majority of the board seats/vote-by-selling/green mail)

　　Proxy solicitation rules: disclosure and antifraud

　　Proxy statement: conflicts of interest; compensation plan to be voted on; compensation paid to the five most highly-paid officers; major corporate change to be voted on/annual report

　　Any statement which is false or misleading with respect to any material fact, or which omits to state any material fact necessary in order to make the statement therein not false or misleading/shareholders’ implied right of private action for an injunction or damages

　　Every proxy solicitation must be accompanied or preceded by a written proxy statement; any documents that will be sent to shareholders as part of solicitation process must first be filed with the SEC before they are sent to shareholders;

　　If the solicitation is by management and relates to an annual meeting at which directors will be elected, the proxy statement must be preceded or accompanied by an annual report; if the solicitation relates only to election of directors and is not contested, pre-filing is not necessary.

　　(proxy card/proxy statement and other solicitation materials/annual reports)

　　(communications by shareholders: not free mail their stuff or give them a list/free include shareholder proposal in management materials: length/election of directors)

　　(Securities Exchange Act, Section 14(a) and 12; SEC rule 14a: proxy solicitation in respect of registered securities)

　　Proxy contest rules

　　Insurgents’ right to get information form management/shareholder list/shareholder inspection rights/a purpose reasonably related his interest as a stockholder (proper purpose)

　　Insurgent must file special information about each participant/participant: any one who contributes more than $500 to the contest/information: Schedule 14B business background, interest in the corporation’s stock; his financial contribution to the proxy fight and other information that will assist a shareholder in deciding whether the insurgent’s slate is more worthy than management’s.

　　Management’s costs/expenses: corporation may pay bare bones costs/other solicitation costs (reasonable costs in educating the shareholders as to the correctness of management’s view/contest involving policy rather than personal power; costs/expenses of successful insurgents: corporation may pay if the contest involved policy rather than being a pure power struggle and shareholder approval (Rosenfeld) (may pay for both sides); costs/expenses of unsuccessful insurgents: no chance