Offers expected for proxy advisor

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., the biggest advisor to pension and mutual funds on casting votes in corporate elections, may get takeover bids of more than $500 million, people with direct knowledge of the auction said.

Companies that were considered likely to have submitted bids by Wednesday’s deadline included RiskMetrics Group Inc., a provider of risk management tools to financial companies, said two people who declined to be named because the sale is private. ISS is owned by investors including Warburg Pincus, a New York-based leveraged buyout firm.

Proxy advisors such as ISS and Glass Lewis & Co. have gained influence and value as corporate scandals, including the frauds at Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc., focused attention on boardroom oversight. Warburg Pincus was part of a group that bought ISS from Toronto-based Thomson Corp. for about $50 million in 2001.