On November 1, 2017, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued Staff Legal Bulletin 14I reflecting guidance ostensibly easing its prior views on the availability of no-action relief for certain shareholder proposals submitted under Rule 14a-8. The guidance affects four topics under the rule:
- the ordinary business exclusion (Rule 14a-8(i)(7));
- the economic relevance exclusion (Rule 14a-8(i)(5));
- proposals by proxy; and
- the use of images and graphs in supporting statements.…