Investidores reagem contra classes de ações da Snapchat

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A notícia abaixo foi publicada na GLOBAL PROXY WATCH, um dos informativos mais lidos e respeitados pelos investidores institucionais globais, e republicamos em nossa newsletter com a devida autorização. Ela reverbera as preocupações da Amec com as ações superpreferenciais, e particularmente com o aspecto nefasto que a inclusão desses ativos exóticos em índices traz, ao praticamente obrigar os investidores institucionais a comprá-los, apesar de suas características negativas de governança. Trata-se de um grande exemplo pelo qual o argumento de que o mercado deve ser livre para comprar e precificar esses ativos merece sérias reservas.

Reflexões importantes para o mercado brasileiro.

SNAP OUT OF IT               

A group of funds led by the US Council of Institutional Investors (CII) this week asked index providers to exclude Snap from passive indices because its common shares carry no voting rights (GPW XXI-05). They met Tuesday with MSCI, which already has asked for input, and with S&P yesterday, and are reaching out to FTSE Russell. The CII also is re-opening a broader campaign against dual-class shares with the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. The effort raises the question of who decides what constitutes a market. Dual-class shares are not allowed under UK rules—although the Financial Conduct Authority is mulling a rollback to attract US tech firms that have them (GPW XXI-07). But for now, the FTSE 350 excludes dual-class shares while the S&P 500 includes them—even though both aim to capture entire markets. If US investors convince index providers to exclude Snap, it could open the door to barring all dual-class shares regardless of what regulators or stock exchange listing rules require. “Who Votes? is the issue right now,” said S&P indexes committee chief David Blitzer in a Monday interview. The committee, he said, needs to think through how much influence investors should have. One way for indexers to respond on Snap without opening Pandora’s Box would be to declare that non-voting shares do not qualify as common but instead are more like preferred, which are not included in passive indices. Investors’ potential clout was driven home at last week’s CII meeting in Washington, DC, where CalPERS board member JJ Jelincic said: “The funds in this room have the power to stop dual-class share listings like Snap. All we need to do is refuse to buy them.”