METROPOLE Gestion believes that exercising voting rights is an essential part of the relationship between a listed company and its shareholders. We are in a position to exercise voting rights in all companies in our portfolio.
Our voting policy sets out the principles applied by METROPOLE Gestion when exercising voting rights. It does not cover every situation that may arise. We examine all proposed resolutions and decide how we will vote, in the sole interest of our clients and in line with the principles and recommendations issued by the AFG (French asset management association) or locally accepted best practice. We then vote using the ISS voting service.
As a signatory of the UN PRI (United Nations' Principles for Responsible Investment), we ensure that our voting policy is consistent with the environmental, social and governance criteria set out in our Transparency Code, which is available on our website.
We reserve the right not to vote in certain specific cases, when voting would not be in our clients' interest. For example, when shares would be blocked for a long period of time if we exercised our voting rights, restricting fund managers' freedom of movement.
When requested, we inform clients how we have exercised voting rights. As required by the AMF's General Regulation, we draw up an annual report within four months of the end of each financial year, which describes voting during the previous year. This report can be viewed on our website or at the registered office.
It is our philosophy to support the management teams of the companies in which we have invested.
We actively analyse all resolutions put to the vote.