Standard Life fund arm still unhappy with governance at Sports Direct, Afren

By Carolyn Cohn LONDON (Reuters) - Standard Life Investments (SLI), the fund arm of insurer Standard Life , said on Friday it remained unhappy with governance at British companies Sports Direct , Afren and Micro Focus International . The asset manager, which has 246 billion pounds in funds under management, voted against management recommendations in 907 resolutions in 2014, it said in its annual governance and stewardship review. While it said it had been influential in achieving change at firms such as RSA , Severfield and Royal Dutch Shell , SLI said issues over governance remained unresolved at several firms, including retailer Sports Direct. SLI joined forces with minority shareholders in the firm run by Mike Ashley to collectively pressure for better governance, after concerns about board appointments, "inappropriate remuneration arrangements", share lock-up agreements and the firm's practice of buying minority stakes in other companies. SLI is the fourth-largest shareholder in Sports Direct with a 1.71 percent stake, against Ashley's 55 percent stake, Thomson Reuters data showed. Two other firms with which it had engaged, only to receive in its view an unsatisfactory response, and which were therefore "escalation candidates", were Afren and Micro Focus. At Afren, SLI said it still had concern about a lack of board independence. SLI cut its stake in Afren last month to less than 1 percent from more than 8 percent, Thomson Reuters data showed. At Micro Focus, SLI said it was continuing to engage with the company over board succession planning. SLI is the eighth-largest shareholder in Micro Focus. Afren and Sports Direct declined to comment. Micro Focus was not immediately available to comment. (Editing by Simon Jessop and Mark Potter)