The body of rules and law surrounding voting at a shareholders’ meeting has become so complex that it can best be described as arcane. Most lawyers do not fully understand these rules and for the minority who do understand the rules, the actual mechanics behind the rules (such as whether a vote has been double counted), remain elusive. This being the case, in any contested matter, whether it be a shareholder vote on a proxy contest or on a corporate procedure such as a contested plan of arrangement, it is essential that a competent and experienced proxy solicitation/strategic advisory firm like Shorecrest be engaged.

I recently led a successful proxy contest to replace the existing board of a public company. From the commencement of my public announcement to replace the incumbent board with an alternate slate, the situation became heated and volatile. At that point I realized it was necessary to retain a strategic advisory firm since I was not using a dissident circular but relying on exemptions which limited what I was able to do in order to garner proxies. 

I had never retained Shorecrest before but they were always proactive, starting with reaching out to me as soon as my announcement was made public. For the next four months I came to rely upon their advice on strategy and found their team to be practical; attentive to detail, accuracy and timeliness: and driven to help me succeed. The fact that I won the proxy contest was attributable to the quality, competence and dedication of my legal advisors and Shorecrest and the seamless and professional manner in which they worked to achieve the goals I had set out.