Institutional Shareholder Services


Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. is a proxy advisory firm. Hedge funds, mutual funds and similar organizations that own shares of multiple companies pay ISS to advise regarding share holder votes. It is the largest such firm, with over 61 percent of the business.
In response to ISS's recommendations to vote against fee-shifting provisions in the event of securities fraud litigation, corporate interests have criticized ISS and suggested that it needs to be regulated. ISS is today the world’s leading provider of corporate governance and responsible investment solutions, market intelligence and fund services, and events and editorial content for institutional investors and corporations, globally.

History

With Disney announcing the combination of the CEO and chairman positions on October 6, 2011, past the date of shareholder proposal deadline, and increase CEO/chair pay, ISS called for a no vote against the four Nominating and Governance Committee board members at the 2012 annual meeting. ISS recommended to clients two candidates nominated by billionaire investor Carl Icahn to the drugmaker Forest Laboratories’ board of directors in a 2012 proxy contest.
In 2013 ISS agreed to pay the SEC a fine of $300,000 and retain an independent compliance consultant to settle charges that it failed to safeguard the confidential proxy voting information of clients. ISS was highlighted in a 2014 opinion piece in the New York Times by Cornell University law professor Lynn Stout as having an outsized power in the selection of CEOs of major corporations in the United States with ramifications for the U.S. economy. It was owned by MSCI until April 30, 2014 when it was purchased by Vestar Capital Partners.
Ethix SRI Advisors was purchased by ISS in September 2015 to help ISS expand in Europe. Ethix was renamed with the acquisition to ISS-Ethix and would lead ISS's sustainable and responsible investment activities.
In 2017, ownership of ISS switched to Genstar Capital. In March 2018, ISS also acquired the German ESG rating agency oekom research AG.