Institutions not vigorous defending investor's interests

The Top 20-30 Investment Institutions worldwide have a de-facto control over nearly all listed companies. If they complain about poor governance practices they only have to blame themselves. While cooperating on business decisions would compromise their decisions and make them insiders they could and should agree on core principles. These could cover executive compensation and closer scrutiny of mergers for a start. Complaining about poorly thought-out Mega Mergers lacks credibility and can only be seen as hand-wringing if not followed up by concrete proposals. Why not start with the muted takeover of BG by Royal Dutch Shell? Prohibit any merger 'agreement' unless shareholders have had a proper say, ban all 'Break fees'! To prevent large holders from squeezing out small shareholders there should be a two-step vote, one where each holder is capped out at a 1% share of the overall vote.
(30 August 2015)