Voting Trust

A type of agreement by which two or more individuals who own corporate stock that carries voting rights transfer their shares to another party for voting purposes, so as to control corporate affairs.

A voting trust is created by an agreement between a group of stockholders and the trustee to whom they transfer their voting rights or by a group of identical agreements between individual shareholders and a common trustee. Such agreements ordinarily provide that control of stock is given to the trustee for a term of years, for a time period contingent upon a certain event, or until the termination of the agreement. Voting trust agreements may provide that the stockholders can direct how the stock is to be voted.

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voting trust n. a trust which solicits vote proxies of shareholders of a corporation to elect a board directors and vote on other matters at a shareholders' meeting. A voting trust is usually operated by current directors to insure continued control, but occasionally a voting trust represents a person or group trying to gain control of the corporation. (See: corporation, shareholder, stockholder, proxy)