Our Corporate Governance Expert Group contributed to our response to the Wates Corporate Governance Principles for Private Companies.
Overall, we welcomed the Coalition Group’s efforts in developing these corporate governance principles and are of the view that the principles do, in the main, identify the corporate governance concepts that are most relevant to private companies.
We did however comment that none of the principles referred to the dialogue that companies must have with investors, so that they understand their own investors’ needs and expectations. We believe that it is essential for a board to not only understand how it can deliver long-term shareholder value, but also to enable it to clarify which matters it is mandated to decide on, and which are specifically reserved for shareholders.
