Pension funds complain about Ellison’s influence over Oracle
TWO EUROPEAN pension funds yesterday published an open letter to US software giant Oracle complaining about the influence that key shareholder Larry Ellison wields over the company and demanding it allow outside investors a greater say over pay policies.
The letter marks the latest attempt in a four-year campaign by Dutch pension group PGGM and the UK’s Railways Pension Trustee Company (Railpen) against Oracle co-founder and former chief executive Ellison and Oracle’s corporate governance policies. Thus far the campaign has found little support among shareholders and has extracted no response from Oracle.
In the letter addressed to the board of the tech firm, PGGM and Railpen petitioned Oracle to “address board accountability by implementing proxy access” and “implement a compensation structure that shareholders can support”. The pair said they would forward the letter to the US Securities and Exchange.