Making use of the right to vote at shareholder meetings is a key element in AllianzGI’s approach to active stewardship

At AllianzGI, we take our fiduciary obligation to be an active shareholder very seriously. Just as active engagement is an important part of our active stewardship investment philosophy, we take our shareholder responsibilities seriously and fulfil them by exercising voting rights on behalf of our clients. Proxy voting enables us to vote during shareholder meetings on behalf of our investors. This allows us to have a say on important issues affecting companies we are invested in. Our voting decisions are informed by in-depth research and analysis and discussions with investee companies.

AllianzGI is committed to full transparency of our proxy voting activities. We publish our

• detailed Global Corporate Governance Guidelines and
• Stewardship Statement, and provide a
• real time disclosure of all votes cast, including commentary on votes against management and abstentions.  

Engagement activities help us to understand and mitigate the real risks of our holdings

As an active asset manager, we believe in high-quality research and gaining a deep understanding of the businesses in which we invest.

A significant part of our research focuses on understanding risks associated with our investments, including those related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. Our portfolio managers, fundamental analysts and ESG analysts hold thousands of meetings with listed issuers every year to inform our investment decisions.

The majority of our meetings with companies are aimed at enhancing our knowledge of their business, management, performance and value drivers. We also believe that as an active manager, we are ideally positioned to engage in dialogue with investee companies and proactively seek to present our viewpoint, request change where necessary, and monitor the results of our engagement.

Our engagements are focused on issues specific to each company and idiosyncratic risks identified in our research process. For this reason, we also strive to make each engagement meeting impactful and productive for all participants by combining the input of the respective equity and fixed income analysts and portfolio managers with the insights of our ESG teams in order to give the company perspectives from all critical parts of our investment platform, presenting a 360 degree view. Our investment views are influenced by the outcomes of these engagements and are linked to the proxy voting process, forming a consistent stewardship approach.

Our preference is to engage investee companies on a confidential basis, but we are prepared to engage in a more public way if a company does not respond constructively. For instance, we participate in collaborative engagement initiatives, which are aimed at mitigating investment risks, improving corporate practices and seeking greater disclosure of information at an industry or market level. All investment professionals at AllianzGI are committed to engaging with the boards and management of investee companies to help them improve performance and safeguard their long-term prospects.

DOWNLOAD OUR SUSTAINABILITY AND STEWARDSHIP REPORT 2022