As Brokers Continue Eliminating Discretionary Voting Practices, Mediant Introduces Mediant Engage™ Suite Enabling Issuers to Meet Quorum Requirements for Conducting Business at Annual Meetings
NEW YORK–(PRNewswire)–Mediant, a leading provider of investor communications technology and technology-enabled solutions to banks, brokers, corporations, and funds, announces the rollout of Mediant Engage™, a suite of omnichannel solutions for addressing corporate issuer concerns about the ongoing elimination of discretionary voting practices by retail brokerage firms, as well as connecting with unvoted shareholders and encouraging participation.
Most issuers require a quorum—a minimum level of shareholder attendance, comprising 50% or more of their outstanding shares, in person or by proxy—before official shareholder meetings or actions can take place. Historically, brokers would make discretionary votes on behalf of shareholders for routine matters such as the ratification of auditors, which made achieving the necessary quorum at annual meetings easy for issuers. However, retail brokerage firms have been changing or terminating their discretionary voting practices over the past several years. Mediant Engage™ is designed to help issuers foster relationships with retail shareholders through direct engagement, as part of Mediant's end-to-end annual meeting solution.
"During our work with corporate issuers, particularly over the past two years, we have come in contact with millions of first-time shareholders, most of whom are beneficial holders through their banks or brokers—and are unaware of their proxy rights," said Rich Babineau, Director of Issuer Solutions at Mediant. "We created Mediant Engage™ to provide issuers with the tools and touchpoints they need to execute a winning strategy for connecting and engaging with retail shareholders, and achieving quorum and proposal passage."
Mediant Engage™ offers three levels of service, giving issuers the opportunity to choose what suits their needs. Features include vote promotion tools in a range of formats, inbound vote capture capabilities and outbound calling to unvoted retail shareholders.
"Mediant Engage™ is a natural add-on to our end-to-end proxy and annual meeting solution," said Sherry Moreland, President and Chief Operating Officer of Mediant. "In doing so, our innovative technology streamlines engagement with unvoted retail shareholders in ways that facilitate relationships, in addition to greater meeting participation and more votes. Everything is in sync, in real time, within our transparent investor communications ecosystem, so issuers can see the results as they happen, and foster stronger connections with their shareholders all year."
