TOKYO (3 February, 2016) – ISS Corporate Solutions, Inc. (ICS), a leading provider of governance tools and advisory services to help companies improve shareholder value and reduce risk, today announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with ProNed, Inc., a Tokyo-based organization devoted to assisting clients in building and maintaining effective corporate governance structures.

Under terms of the agreement, ProNed will be able to access a wide array of ICS board and director data for TSE-listed companies, including data related to director characteristics such as age, gender, qualifications, and independence designation. ProNed will also start introducing ICS’ solutions and services related to ISS Governance QuickScore, executive compensation, capital management, and institutional investors’ voting trends.. QuickScore, a state-of-the-art global corporate governance scoring solution for institutional investors developed by ICS’ parent company, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), includes coverage of more than 300 companies domiciled in Japan. It is designed to help investors identify and measure corporate governance risk across portfolio companies, providing a score for each company in its coverage universe that measures the company’s level of corporate governance risk both overall and based on four broad pillars: board structure, compensation/remuneration, shareholder rights, and audit & risk oversight. As part of the agreement, ProNed clients will have the opportunity to subscribe to ICS’ online tools for benchmarking governance practices and designing strong governance programs and related advisory services.

“We welcome the opportunity to partner with ProNed and to provide its director and issuer clients deep insight into board- and company-level governance trends,” said Mark Brockway, Head, ICS Business. “As a leader in boardroom governance in Japan, we are particularly pleased to work with ProNed as it fulfills its mission of promoting a strong and independent voice in the boardroom.”

Today’s agreement represents a further step in the expansion of ICS’ presence in the Japanese market. In August, ICS announced the appointment of Jun Frank to head its north-Asia advisory services including coverage for Japan-based corporations. Frank, a native Japanese speaker, previously headed Asia, ex-Japan, for ISS, where he oversaw proxy advisory services covering more than 5,000 companies in 14 markets.

Frank, based in Tokyo, will manage ICS’ partnership with ProNed.

“Through this alliance, our clients can initiate various projects to improve their corporate governance, taking fully into account institutional investors’ perspectives and expectations,” said Isao Sakai, President and Representative Director at ProNed. “We are convinced that it will also contribute to enhancing the quality of engagement between investors and issuers.”