Empirical evidence of long-termism and shareholder activism in UK unit trusts

In this paper, we assess the impact of recent reforms in UK corporate governance, focusing specifically on aspects of the reforms which apply to unit trust managers, a major group of institutional investors, and their investee companies. We canvass the views of UK unit trust managers to shed light on three issues: the extent of shareholder activism by UK unit trusts; the extent to which longer and stronger decision and communication links are being forged between investment institutions and their investee companies, and; the emerging controversy over whether or not these recent reforms represent a help or a hindrance for unit trust managers. The empirical findings indicate that unit trusts: are active shareholders, developing and using written voting policy documents; are encouraging the development of longer and stronger links with their investee companies, and; have welcomed corporate governance reforms.