What has been the biggest change in shareholder inquiries over the past year?
Kim Callahan, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, Camden Property Trust (NYSE: CPT)
"We have seen a rise in the number of direct inquiries from investors and shareholders requesting meetings with our management team and property tours of our apartment communities. Most institutional investors continue to leverage their relationships with sell-side analyst firms for both research and corporate access, but I believe that recent MiFID II (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II) regulations have caused some investors to reach out directly to companies and their investor relations departments more frequently.
Shareholder engagement has always been a priority for Camden, and we offer meetings with our management team and tours of our apartment communities to ensure that investors better understand our business and see our people and our properties firsthand. While the increase in requests for corporate access has been manageable so far, it is definitely something we are monitoring going forward.”
Stacy Slater, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Capital Markets, Brixmor Property Group Inc (NYSE: BRX)
"What has really changed is the number of discussions we are having related to corporate responsibility, beyond just traditional governance policies, and the increasing internal focus on this topic that we are seeing from both our traditional REIT investors and new investors.
We welcome this dialogue and the opportunity to emphasize our environmental and social initiatives (in addition to our strong governance practices), including human capital management, and how we are committed to being the centers of the communities we serve.
These are critically important components of our business plan and of our board oversight, and we are excited about the greater interest among our stakeholders.”
Tracy Ward, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, Prologis, Inc. (NYSE: PLD)
"ESG has reached an unprecedented level of importance within our sector and investors’ questions delve into a wide range of topics. For us, environmental stewardship is about future-proofing and driving cost savings.
Social responsibility is the least-understood aspect of ESG but one that investors are increasingly watching. For Prologis, it’s about building strong relationships with communities and local governments and helping our customers solve their pain points—specifically around labor shortages, which we are helping to address with our recently launched Community Workforce Initiative that educates and guides people toward careers in logistics.
Governance questions allow us to showcase how we manage our global business and communicate with our stakeholders. Diversity of our board of directors, in terms of gender, skills and expertise, is of utmost importance, and something we actively discuss with our shareholders.”