Heritage Playbook Sets Up Antitrust Pressure on Proxy Advisers

Republicans and companies have looked to securities regulators to curb firms that advise shareholders on environmental, social, and governance issues, with limited success.

But with the Trump administration implementing a Heritage Foundation anti-ESG playbook, antitrust enforcement could be the next front in the campaign against proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass, Lewis & Co. The firms, which control most of the proxy advice industry, form a “duopoly” that the Department of Justice or Federal Trade Commission should investigate, Heritage argued in a recent report.

President Donald Trump already has implemented several of the guide’s recommendations, including rescinding ...