King Parallel Consulting and Sodali Ltd have formed a strategic partnership to deliver shareholder response services to Chinese companies in the Greater China Region, including mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
The services will mainly focus on corporate governance, strategic advice to boards and executive management, shareholder response advisory and transactional services, specifically:
· Preparation and conduct of shareholder meetings, ordinary and extraordinary.
· Transactional services such as mergers and acquisitions, response to shareholder activists, contests for control, takeover bids, capital restructurings and other corporate actions in which maximization of equity and debt holders’ reach, understanding and support is requested.
· Advisory and consulting services include corporate governance assessments and benchmarking, board evaluations, outreach and engagement with shareholders, as well as services related to IPOs.
· Institutional investor outreach, engagement, disclosure, communication and interviews with shareholders, proxy advisors, activist investors and other parties on matters related to shareholder meetings and transactional services.
John C Wilcox, the chairman of Sodali, says that a partnership between King Parallel and Sodali will help Chinese companies develop customised corporate governance principles that are compatible with the country’s business structure and culture.
“There is no need to mimic western governance practices,” he says. “Once Chinese governance principles have been articulated, we will work with King Parallel to help Chinese companies implement them, handle their relations with global institutional investors and manage their cross-border transactions, shareholder meetings and IPOs.
“The world’s second-largest economy should be accommodated within global best practice standards for corporate governance. Our goal is to introduce and harmonise corporate governance practices for Chinese companies.”
Dr Zhengjun Zhang, managing partner and CEO of King Parallel, says that many of his clients have been asking for governance advice and shareholder services in response to reforms introduced by China’s regulators during last few years, and “more and more companies will realise the need of professional shareholder services and governance services.”
