Investors’ letter about diversity in boards of directors and management boards

The board diversity topic has been included in the Brazilian investors’ agenda. In the first week of February, the group of investors of the 30% Club Chapter Brazil sent a collective letter about the theme to Chairs of IBrX-100 companies at B3. The 30% Club leads a global campaign organized and led by the market that gathers companies, institutional investors, recruiting companies, professional services organizations and other market’s participants aimed at a better gender balance in boards of directors and management boards.
Prepared by large domestic and foreign institutional funds led by Hermes, Robeco, Petros, Previ, and Leblon Equities (including the recent joining of Blackrock as the new member of the 30% Club Brazil Chapter), the objective of the document is to show to listed companies the concerns of investors over gender diversity in board composition, including appropriate gender representation and a broad spectrum of skills and experience. Additionally, the members also expressed their support to the 30% Club initiative, officially launched in Brazil in March. The letter also opens a dialogue with companies while they prepare to the 2019 proxy season, encouraging the progress in gender diversity.
This same group will continue to engage constructively with companies, especially the ones from the Novo Mercado segment that still have all-male boards – 92 companies listed at Novo Mercado had all male boards in 2018, according to the Enlight 2018 Survey. It is an unparalleled initiative in the country that shows the evolving of stewardship practices adopted by these investors in Brazil.
As a result, some board chairs have been replying to the letter, including the positive feedback of the chair of a large listed company that stated that one or possibly two women will be included in the list of candidates to the board to be submitted for approval in the company’s annual general meeting in April.