when a corporate takeover is particularly contentious to the point that it has become a hostile takeover the acquiring group may try to convince shareholders to vote out some or all of a company s senior management so as to make it easier to take control of the organization 
proxy statement faqsforeign companies that offer sec registered securities in the united states have to file forms with the sec in a similar way to u s companies so as to give investors accurate and timely information all such forms can be found using edgar the sec s database companies that are not registered with the sec must post disclosures in english on the internet as per sec rules 3a public company that cannot file quarterly financial results proxy statements or other key filings with the sec on time must file sec form 12b 25 also known as the notification of late filing filing this form may enable a company to avoid certain fees that it would otherwise owe as a result of the late filing the company filing the late form must give a reason for the late filing and state whether it expects to divulge any big surprises relative to its prior year s filing of the required form 4a proxy agreement is a written agreement that one person can act legally on behalf of another in the case of shareholder votes the proxy agreement states that a proxy can vote on behalf of the principal that is different from a proxy statement filed with the sec which is a document provided by public companies and filed with the sec that discloses material matters related to a company s voting procedures candidates for its board of directors and executive compensation the bottom linea proxy statement is a document containing information that the securities and exchange commission requires public companies to disclose to shareholders when requesting votes ahead of an annual meeting 