– The SEC is in discussions with US stock exchange operators on potentially easing regulatory requirements for public companies.
According to Reuters (paywall), the regulatory reform seeks to attract more high value startups to list publicly, with discussions said to involve the SEC, Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange.
The reforms under discussion include reducing the number of disclosures required, lowering the costs of going public and making it harder for minority investors to put investee companies under pressure.
The talks, which are several months in, come in line with President Donald Trump’s push to cut red tape and implement light-touch regulation.
– Earlier this week, it emerged that Shell was reportedly in early talks for the acquisition of BP, according to the Wall Street Journal (paywall). At the time, the Journal said that Shell was ‘considering the approach carefully’ with no set valuation or timeline in place.
If the deal were to proceed, it is thought that a merger would create a global energy group worth more than £200 bn ($274.5 bn).
However, these reports were later contradicted when a spokesperson for Shell said: ‘No talks are taking place,’ adding that the company is focusing on its own performance, rather than growing through a major acquisition.
Activist shareholder Elliott Management, which owns a 5 percent stake in BP, warned in April that the company could face a takeover unless its management made significant cuts to costs and spending.
– The shareholders of Fuji Media voted against all 12 board candidates proposed by Dalton Investments, the US activist investor which holds a 7.5 percent stake in the Japanese broadcaster.
Bloomberg (paywall) reported that the nominated directors were voted down during Fuji Media’s AGM this week, amid pressure from some investors for several of the company’s executives to stand down.
Fuji Media continues to struggle to recover from a sexual assault scandal that came to light in December 2024, which has impacted both public perception and alienated advertisers.
Dalton’s candidates included SBI Holdings’ Yoshitaka Kitao, a vocal critic of corporate governance practices in Japan. The activist fund had also called on Fuji Media to spin off its real estate arm and unwind cross shareholdings.
– Gautam Adani, the billionaire chairman of Adani Group, is pressing ahead with major spending plans despite the conglomerate facing the threat of US criminal charges over an alleged bribery scheme, the Financial Times reported (paywall).
In November 2024, US prosecutors charged Adani along with seven others in connection with an alleged years-long scheme to bribe Indian officials in exchange for favorable terms on solar power contracts.
Adani continues to deny the allegations. During this week’s AGM, the company’s chairman said no one from the group had been charged under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
He went on to say that while the group was co-operating with the legal processes ‘our governance is of global standards, and our compliance frameworks are non-negotiable’.
– Shareholders of Nissan Motor have expressed their frustrations over the carmaker’s poor performance at its annual general meeting, with some demanding greater management accountability for the company’s worsening crisis.
The meeting was the first under new CEO Ivan Espinosa, who replaced previous incumbent Makoto Uchida as CEO in April.
The company has reported a $4.5 bn net loss in the last financial year, with shares having fallen approximately 36 percent over the last year and dividend payments suspended. The downturn is largely due to declining sales in key markets like the US and China, increased competition, a struggling transition to electric vehicles and rising costs.
According to Reuters, one shareholder accused the board of trying to ‘shift its responsibility to frontline workers’ by cutting jobs while keeping their own jobs.
Shareholders also voted down several proposals that the company had opposed, including an activist proposal that urged Nissan to act on its listed subsidiary, Nissan Shatai.
