Article
Feds side with Chevron vs. activist shareholders [USA]
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC]…gave Chevron permission to block the proposal from coming up for a vote at the...company’s annual shareholder meeting. It’s one of two shareholder proposals Chevron wants to block, both of them related to the $19 billion pollution lawsuit against the company in Ecuador…Chevron considers the suit a shakedown and has vowed not to pay. The activists, including the Unitarian Universalist Association, say Watson [Chevron's CEO] is too close to the case and is pursuing a take-no-prisoners legal strategy that could backfire…“This decision prevents a free debate among Chevron shareholders over whether the board should exercise proper oversight of management and its strategy in the Ecuador case.” [said Simon Billenness, leader of Unitarians’ committee on socially responsible investment] Still no word on whether the SEC will allow Chevron to block the second disputed shareholder proposal. That one asks Chevron to explain why the company subpoenaed documents last year from some activist shareholders, including Billenness.