A group of distinguished panelists were put on the spot last week at a corporate governance "summit" in Brussels when they were unexpectedly asked to name – or shame – the companies with the best and worst records in protecting shareholder value.

After an initial hesitation, most of the panel, which included André Baladi of Geneva's International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Organisation, Rory Knight of Oxford Metrica, Stephan Howaldt of Hermes Focus Asset Management and Christian Strenger of DWS Investment, finally obliged at the insistence of the moderator.