General meetings : a dispensable tool for corporate governance of listed companies ?

Abstract

The current Company Law Review by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Myners Report on Institutional Investment both identified the annual general meeting (AGM) of public companies as one of the instruments of corporate governance that seems to fail its purpose. Based on responses to the DTI's consultation document Company General Meetings and Shareholder Communication the paper explores arguments for and against AGMs and investigates proposals for the reform of AGMs.