PROXY BRUSH. Glass Lewis and its peers are the dentists of Wall Street. They’re not much loved, but without them the process of corporate voting could rot. That’s perhaps why they have both become acquisition targets. On Tuesday Canadian private equity firm Peloton Capital Management said it would buy Glass Lewis from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board for an undisclosed sum. Last year, Deutsche Boerse bought ISS. Both firms advise investors on how to vote in sticky corporate situations, like activist campaigns. Investment bankers and companies love to hate their power, which has grown as passive investing has ballooned. Last year the Securities and Exchange Commission even tried to change the way proxy advisers publish reports. These firms can be conflicted, which they now have to disclose. Still they are an additional check for investors who cannot afford to do much critical analysis on their own. Much like the endodontist, they aren’t going anywhere. (By Lauren Silva Laughlin)