This is an official statement of Bâloise Vie Luxembourg S.A. (BVL) in regard to the “Engagement Policy”, as required under the “Shareholder Rights Directive II” (SRD II)
Under SRD II (article 3g, 1(a) of SRD II) it is required that BVL develops an Engagement Policy in which it is described how engagement with relevant investee companies that are listed on a regulated market are facilitated into its investment strategies.
Alternatively, BVL is entitled to publicly disclose, on its website or by way of other means accessible online, a clear and reasoned explanation why it has elected not to do so (article 3g, 1 of SRD II).
BVL provides a wide range of life insurance products varying from classical life insurance products and pensions schemes to insurance-based unit-linked wealth planning solutions. Particularly the assets underlying a unit-linked life insurance policy are managed at the discretion of an appointed asset/investment manager, in accordance with the investment strategy/profile of each Policyholder. Due to such arrangement whereby the asset manager has sole discretion in regard to the relevant assets and their management, BVL is not involved in decisions relating to asset management per say, and therefore BVL does not monitor any of the listed investee companies on relevant matters such as company strategy, capital structure, corporate governance etc.
Due to the foregoing, BVL has elected not to develop an Engagement Policy. To summarise and highlight the reasons for not developing an Engagement Policy:
Investments in listed companies (shares) are performed via an independent and duly qualified investment service provider (Asset/Investment Manager), who is authorised to act on his own discretion, while following and respecting the investment strategy/profile of each individual Policyholder;
The exercise of the voting rights is generally not delegated to the Asset/Investment Manager, due to the passive nature of the investment strategies pursued by BVL;
Decision to attend a shareholders meeting or not is at the sole discretion of BVL. It is not part of BVL strategy to acquire any major shareholdings in its investee companies, nor to attend any shareholder meetings of its investee companies.