Chapter 5 of Davies Governance Insights 2020
In Canada, virtual shareholders' meetings began growing in popularity in 2019. A year later, they have become the new normal in a period devoid of normalcy. In this chapter, we explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the landscape of annual shareholders' meetings, and discuss key considerations for issuers evaluating whether and how to hold a virtual meeting in the current and post-pandemic eras. We expect the number of virtual-only meetings in 2021 to be significantly higher than that in 2019, particularly in the absence of a vaccine prior to the start of the 2021 proxy season; however, in the medium to long term, we predict a substantial portion of Canadian reporting issuers will revert to in-person meetings supplemented by a virtual component (i.e., hybrid-virtual meetings).
This chapter appears in the 2020 edition of Davies Governance Insights, our comprehensive annual report on the trends and issues most important to Canadian public companies.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
