Monday 28 November 2011

BSkyB latest

OK, from what I've read it seems that Legal & General, Kames (Aegon investment arm) and Franklin Templeton are all opposing James Murdoch. That's on top of the three US investors identifed last week.

I suspect L&G's opposition will sting as it's a top 10 investor and has many UK pension fund clients who will be reading about their opposition in its Q1 reports to trustees. It can't be good news that large shareholders are public in their opposition to Murdoch either. Very difficult to change your mind once you're in the public domain saying a new chair is needed.

According to one report, Capital has voted for Murdoch but privately told the company it needs a new chair. I don't think that will be a one-off, so tomorrow's vote may not tell the whole story.

Also a certain hapless right-wing blogger has got himself called before the Leveson Inquiry for leaking Alastair Campbell's evidence. Incredibly the evidence is still available online. It is believed to say that Campbell received threatening phonecalls and texts "from the office of James Murdoch" when he supported The Guardian's 2009 story on the extent of phone hacking.

I'll blog asap tomorrow when the vote is out. Look out for possible large number of abstentions driven by ISS recommendation.

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