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The
fund, which invests around 70% of its portfolio in the stock
market, has stakes in some 9,200 companies, owning 1.5% of all
globally listed shares.
In most cases, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) will
back a board's proposals at a meeting of shareholders, but not
always, it said.
"It is particularly relevant for companies and the general
public to understand why we in some cases vote against the
board," Chief Corporate Governance Officer Carine Smith Ihenacho
said.
The fund already releases records showing which proposals it
backed or rejected, but only rarely has it explained its
actions. From Wednesday onwards, that will change.
"We will publish the rationale in our voting solution one day
after the shareholder meeting," NBIM said.
To help manage expectations, it also released four position
papers on Wednesday to clarify its views on board independence,
multiple share classes, shareholder rights in equity issuance,
and companies' related-party transactions.
Ihenacho also called for more efficient voting processes at many
firms.
"We see that in several markets, there are still manual voting
processes, several layers of intermediaries, and a lack of
electronic solutions," she said.
"We depend on issuers, investors, business participants and
regulators cooperating to make relevant information available,
propose improvements, develop good electronic voting solutions,
and modernise frameworks," she added.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Victoria Klesty, editing by
Larry King)
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