Institutional Shareholder Services Names New Head of Securities Class Action Services

Yovanka Bylander to Lead Business Unit

Rockville, MD – December 8, 2011 – Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS), a leading provider of corporate governance solutions to the global financial community, today named Yovanka Bylander as its new Head of Securities Class Action Services.  ISS’ Securities Class Action Services business serves more than 300 institutional investment clients, leveraging its large collection of securities litigation case data and its robust claims filing operation to maximize investors’ class action recoveries.

“For more than a decade our Securities Class Action Service has improved investor performance through effective recoveries management,“ said Stephen Harvey, Head of the ISS Governance Business. “We are confident that Yovanka’s 18 years of professional experience and proven track record in launching and growingbusinesses will set our Securities Class Action Services businesses on a new path of innovation and growth.”   

Billions of dollars each year are recoverable by investors in securities class-action lawsuits. Yet, the reality is that less than half of the eligible claims are filed in many cases, resulting in those settlement dollars going unclaimed. In fact, there is almost $19 billion in pending or final settlements for which the claim-filing deadlines have not passed.

“For institutional investors extending their fiduciary responsibilities to recovering lost assets resulting from fraud, ISS’ Securities Class Action Services represents a turnkey processing solution that is proven, secure and low cost,” said Ms. Bylander.  “There is a tremendous amount of money at stake for investors.  With the most extensive securities litigation database in the industry and a proven end-to-end claims processing platform, we are maximizing returns for our clients in the U.S. and abroad.” 

Before joining ISS, Ms. Bylander was Acting CEO of Hawkstone Capital LLC, a $200 million Europe long/short fund in which she was actively involved since it launched in 2006.  Prior to Hawkstone, she was an equity analyst, covering Latin American bank stocks at Morgan Stanley and Fox-Pitt Kelton.  At Morgan Stanley, she was an integral part of a leading Institutional Investor ranking research team and was an important contributor to a $2 billion Brazilian bank equity placement- one of the largest such transactions at the time.

ISS’ Securities Class Action Services business employs 18 full-time case research and operations professionals and files almost a half-million claims each year on behalf of its clients.  The singular focus of the service is to provide asset managers, asset owners and hedge funds with the highest return possible on their settlement claims.  ISS offers its Securities Class Action Services on an annual fixed fee subscription basis or through a no up-front cost contingency arrangement.

About ISS

ISS, founded in 1985 as Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., is the world's leading provider of proxy advisory and corporate governance solutions to financial market participants. ISS' services include objective proxy research and analysis, end-to-end proxy voting and distribution solutions, turnkey securities class-action claims management, and reliable governance data and modeling tools. More than 1,700 clients rely on ISS' expertise to help them make informed corporate governance decisions. ISS is located in financial centers worldwide and is a subsidiary of MSCI Inc., a leading provider of investment decision support tools to investors globally. For more information, please visit www.issgovernance.com.

ISS Media Contacts

Cheryl Gustitus
cheryl.gustitus@issgovernance.com
+1.301.556.0395

Sarah Ball
sarah.ball@issgovernance.com
+44.207.618.2275