Xinhua Finance, the largest provider of financial information in China, has snapped up Glass Lewis, a US firm that specialises in proxy voting services.
This seemingly arcane backwater has shot to prominence in the US because of the current obsession with corporate governance, and Xinhua sees a need to offer western investors a similar service for Chinese companies.
Xinhua Finance took a 19.9% stake in the US company earlier this year --- see this EngagingChina story -- and now it has bought the remainder for $45m, according to the Financial Times ($).
As we said in our earlier story, Xinhua's is interested in bringing the proxy services that Glass Lewis offers to China, where public companies have complicated shareholding structures, making it difficult for foreign shareholders to vote.
Glass Lewis will continue to operate as a separate company with its existing management, client services and research teams.
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