The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year rejected without explanation the attempt by The Carlyle Group L.P. to go public with a provision in its partnership agreement requiring individual arbitration instead of securities class actions.
That same year, the SEC refused to let Pfizer Inc. and Gannett Co. Inc. shareholders advance a plan to amend their bylaws, opaquely stating in a no-action letter requested by management that the plans might violate securities laws, notwithstanding substantial U.S. Supreme Court precedent to the contrary.
