The Gender Pay Gap Regulations, known as the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 came into force in the UK in April 2017. The regulations require all private and non-governmental, non–profit organisations with 250 or more employees to publish data on the average difference between the pay of men and women. The…

March 30, 2020 Read more >

2020 MM&K Private Equity / Venture Capital Pulse Survey This month MM&K launches its 2020 Private Equity / Venture Capital Pulse Survey. The Pulse Survey is a short survey that focuses on the most recent HR and compensation developments in the UK and European Private Equity / Venture Capital industry. The Pulse Survey is run…

February 28, 2020 Read more >

The “CEO pay ratio” has become a hot topic after the introduction of new legislation demanding UK incorporated companies listed on the FTSE, NYSE and NASDAQ with over 250 employees to disclose in their directors’ remuneration reports the ratio of their CEO’s total pay to the lower quartile, median and upper quartile total pay of…

February 28, 2020 Read more >

There is a seemingly strong belief, particularly from Government, that the best way to make change is to do so through the use of “nudge” – influencing the behaviours of those organisations at “the top” to impact upon a wider group. A recent survey by the organisation Company Matters prompted us to consider the interesting…

February 28, 2020 Read more >

The Principles of Remuneration that were published by the Investment Association (the “IA”) in November 2019 include the following words: “Executive directors and senior executives should build up significant holdings in their company’s shares. Executives are encouraged to purchase company shares using their own resources in order to provide evidence of their alignment with shareholders.”…

February 28, 2020 Read more >

More and more companies are shunning listed status. Recent research has shown that the number of take private deals in 2019 was 40% higher than in 2018. Aggregate deal value increased from £9.9bn to £21.1bn. Whilst the big deals grabbed the headlines (Advent’s £4.0bn offer for defence group, Cobham and the £3.3bn bid by a…

February 28, 2020 Read more >

The UK Stewardship Code forms part of the FRC’s mission to promote transparency and integrity in business. The 2020 version of the Code was published by the FRC earlier this month. Under the Code, it is incumbent on asset owners and asset managers to disclose how they have prioritised ESG factors when assessing investments. The…

January 30, 2020 Read more >

2020 MM&K / GECN Global Research In 2019 MM&K, together with our partners in the GECN Group (Global Governance and Executive Compensation Group) researched the Global Trends in Corporate Governance – investors perspective. The outcomes of this research are present in the Executive Summary (click here to request a copy). 25 global investors were interviewed…

January 29, 2020 Read more >

The FRC’s annual review of reporting, following 2018 changes to the UK Corporate Governance Code shows the quality of reporting has been mixed. In this article we analyse key elements of the FRC review The 2018 UK Corporate Governance Code that applies to accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2019, is designed to…

January 28, 2020 Read more >

MM&K are members of the Quoted Companies Alliance (“QCA”) and sit on both the Corporate Governance and Share Schemes experts group.  Here are four insights coming out of the recently published AIM Good Governance Review. 1) There is an increasing trend for more disclosure in the year-end financial reports of AIM companies.  This trend towards…

January 23, 2020 Read more >

It appears that 2019 was another very good year for the European Private Equity Industry.  The year set a new annual record for European PE fundraising with €86bn raised across 89 fund entities. The year was also a good year for PE deal activity which in value terms was the second highest on record.  However,…

January 22, 2020 Read more >

The sixth Annual Conference of the Global Governance and Executive Compensation Group (GECN) took place in Zurich from 6 to 8 January, hosted by Swiss-based group member, HCM International. The GECN is a group of five independent advisory firms specialising in executive compensation and corporate governance. It comprises 95 professionals operating from nine offices globally (www.gecn.com).…

January 13, 2020 Read more >