The voting record of the $192bn Future Fund reveals votes against dozens of remuneration reports and equity grants to CEOs

Australia’s sovereign wealth fund votes against more than 20 remuneration reports and a long list of CEO and executive bonuses at some of the nation’s largest companies.

Future Fund chairman Peter Costello has overseen dozens of votes against ASX remuneration reports and bonuses for CEOs at last year’s annual general meetings. Picture : David Geraghty , The Australian.

Australia’s sovereign wealth fund has put company boards on notice that it won’t wave through executive pay and bonus arrangements voting against the remuneration reports of 23 ASX-listed companies and several incentive deals.

The Future Fund, which manages $192bn, has let its unease with corporate salary largesse be known through its voting record over the last year where it took aim at equity grants to leading executives including Premier Investments’ Richard Murray, JB Hi-Fi CEO Terry Smart, Seek boss Ian Narev, Platinum Asset Management’s Andrew Clifford and Dexus boss Darren Steinberg.

And while the Future Fund mostly voted against shareholder proposals at AGMs that sought force mining companies to adhere to Paris Agreement climate change guidelines it did vote in favour of a move to limit lobbying activity when it was at odds with the environmental accord for resources giant BHP and South32.

It also was opposed to equity grants put up by Appen for its CEO Mark Brayan, while other executives or directors also had their share deals voted against such as Magellan Financial director Colette Garnsey and Corporate Travel Management chief operating officer Laura Ruffles.

Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn was luckier. While the fund voted against his $1.6m equity grant in 2021 it had a change of heart in 2022 to only abstain when it came up at the bank’s annual meeting last October.

Chaired by former federal treasurer Peter Costello, the Future Fund also racked up a long list of ASX-listed companies that it chose to vote against the adoption of remuneration reports.

According to the Future Fund’s 2022 voting record, released overnight, one of the nation’s largest pool of savings and equity holders lodged its shares against the remuneration reports of Crown Resorts, Cleanaway and EML Payments, as well as leading Dexus, Webjet, IDP Education, Healius, Sealink, Link, Cimic, Viva Energy, Steadfast, IAG and Tyro. There were also a myriad of other smaller companies that attracted a vote against the remuneration report including Dicker Data, Whitehaven Coal, Mt Gibson Iron, Brainchip, Lovisa, New Hope Coal and NRW Holdings.

Crown, the scandal plagued casino operator that was trawled through a number of investigations, and a royal commission that found it engaged in “illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative”, felt the ire of the Future Fund. It voted against Crown’s remuneration report, an equity grant to the then new CEO Steve McCann, as well as his termination benefits.

This week the Future Fund posted its most recent performance, showing a 0.6 per cent fall for the first three months of the financial year, although it outperformed the ASX 200 on an annual basis, with a return of -3 per cent compared to -8 per cent for the 12 months to September 30, 2022.

Now the nation’s sovereign wealth fund has released its voting record, revealing how it voted at more than 230 company annual meetings, extraordinary meetings and other shareholder forums for the 12 months to June 30. This captures most of the ASX’s meetings for fiscal 2022, although it doesn’t include more recent AGMs.

At other shareholder meetings, the Future Fund voted against the re-election of Harvey Norman directors Michael Harvey, Christopher Brown and John Slack-Smith – although it did support the retailer’s remuneration report.

A Future Fund spokeswoman declined to comment on the investor’s voting record over the 2022 financial year and the reasons for its various votes against remuneration reports and bonus schemes for chief executives and other senior company executives.

Originally published as The voting record of the $192bn Future Fund reveals votes against dozens of remuneration reports and equity grants to CEOs