Once a year, this truly unique “Proxy Street”, a two-block stretch in Taipei comes alive. I call this place the “Proxy Street” as this is where corporate battles are fought out and where hostile take-overs are engineered by this phenomenon of “proxy for gifts”. Here, the grey-area practice of getting small shareholders to sign over their proxy in exchange for gifts (mostly cheap stuff like tissue paper, utility knives, etc.) is openly carried out from May till the end of June, when the law requires all listed companies to hold their annual general shareholder meeting before the June 30th deadline.
