Exercise of voting rights and engagement
Exercise of voting rights
Pursuant to Art. 71a of the Swiss Federal Law on Occupational Retirement, Survivors’ and Disability Pension Plans (BVG), employee benefits institutions regulated by the Swiss Federal Law on Vesting in Occupational Pension Plans are obliged to exercise their voting rights if they hold direct interests in a listed Swiss public limited company. According to Art. 71b BVG, they must also provide an annual account of their compliance with the applicable voting obligations. Since the Avadis Investment Foundations are not employee benefits institutions as defined by Art. 71a BVG, they are exempt from the voting and disclosure obligations applicable to employee benefits institutions. The same applies to employee benefits institutions that invest (indirectly) in Swiss equities via the Avadis Investment Foundations.
Since 2023, the Avadis Investment Foundations have arranged for the voting rights for Swiss and foreign public limited companies to be actively exercised at the level of the target funds in accordance with the recommendations of a proxy advisor. This service relieves investors from having to work out their own voting preferences.
Engagement
Corporate dialogue and engagement are important priorities for the Avadis Investment Foundations. From a sustainability perspective, this work aims to convince companies to improve their corporate social responsibility or sustainability within the company itself. We believe that this improvement will bring benefits to the company and ultimately to its owners, which should also translate into a better operating result in the long term.
Since 2023, the mandated proxy advisor has pooled our influence as investors at the target fund level and made an impact in the areas of human rights, labour rights, the environment and corruption.
Engagement methodology
Through the exercise of voting rights and corporate dialogue, we take responsibility, achieve a positive impact on the environment and society and promote sustainable growth.