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PROXY STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 14(A) OF THE SECURITIES
EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 (AMENDMENT NO. )
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AETNA INC.
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Aetna Inc. issued the following press release today:
MEDIA CONTACT:
151 Farmington Avenue Fred Laberge
Hartford, Conn. 06156 (860) 273-4788
Labergear@aetna.com
INVESTOR CONTACT:
Dennis Oakes
(860) 273-6184
OakesD@aetna.com
AETNA EARNS HIGH RANKING ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
COMPANY RATED IN TOP TIER BY INSTITUTIONAL SHAREHOLDER SERVICES
HARTFORD, CONN., APRIL 7, 2003 -- Aetna (NYSE: AET) announced today that it has
earned high ratings for its corporate governance practices from Institutional
Shareholder Services (ISS), an independent provider of proxy voting and
corporate governance services.
According to ISS' proxy analysis, Aetna's governance outperformed 96.2 percent
of the companies in the S&P 500 and 99.7 percent of the companies in the Health
Care Equipment and Services group.
"We are gratified to have earned this recognition," said John W. Rowe, M.D.,
chairman and chief executive officer of Aetna. "It reinforces the importance
that Aetna places on sound corporate governance and emphasizes our efforts to
properly align our corporate governance practices with shareholder interests."
Over the past year, Aetna has made a number of changes in its corporate
governance practices, including termination of its shareholder rights plan.
Aetna's Board of Directors also voted to recommend the following changes to the
company's Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws, which will be voted upon by
shareholders at its 2003 Annual Meeting on April 25:
Aetna/2
- Reducing the vote required for shareholders to approve mergers,
consolidations and similar transactions from two-thirds of
outstanding shares to a simple majority of outstanding shares.
- Granting shareholders the right to call a special meeting with the
support of two-thirds of the outstanding shares.
- Reducing the vote required for shareholders to amend certain portions
of the Company's By-Laws from 80 percent of outstanding shares to
two-thirds of outstanding shares, consistent with the level of
shareholder support necessary to call a special meeting.
Aetna early this year also announced that the company has begun making its key
corporate governance documents publicly available on Aetna's Web site. The
site, which can be accessed from the home page of www.aetna.com, contains key
information about Aetna's corporate governance policies in one simple, clear
and easy-to-navigate location.
Aetna is one of the nation's leading providers of health care, dental,
pharmacy, group life, disability and long-term care products, serving
approximately 13.7 million medical members, 11.8 million dental members and
11.7 million group insurance customers, as of December 31, 2002. The company
has expansive nationwide networks of more than 552,000 health care services
providers, including over 332,000 primary care and specialist physicians and
3,373 hospitals. For more information about Aetna, please visit the company's
Web site at www.aetna.com.
Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. is the world's leading provider of
proxy voting and corporate governance services. ISS serves more than 950
institutional and corporate clients throughout North America and Europe with
its core business -- analyzing proxies and issuing informed research and
objective vote recommendations for more than 10,000 U.S. and 12,000 non-U.S.
shareholder meetings each year.
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