Last week we saw only the second voting outcome in a proxy contest under the new universal proxy card (UPC) rule. The activist investor prevailed decisively, in an interesting and unusual election. UPC may have helped encourage the activist to pursue it, but likely did not affect the outcome. An individual investor, Daniel Mangless, owns 2.3% of…
Category: proxy contest
Proxy Fight at Shake Shack
Activist investor Engaged Capital is planning a proxy fight for three board seats at high-end burger chain Shake Shack (NYSE:SHAK), the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. Including swaps, Engaged has a roughly 6.6% stake in the restaurant chain, the report added. Engaged has determined ways to double the…
Agenda – ‘Fertile Soil’ for Activism Drives Rise in Proxy Fights
The deadline for dissidents to throw director candidates in the ring is looming for companies with spring annual meetings. Investors are intending to nominate opposing board candidates and have launched a flurry of proxy battles as companies work to resolve demands behind the scenes. Indeed, between Jan. 1 and Feb. 22 this year, activists announced…
Disney Proxy Fight: Nelson Peltz Targets Michael Froman – The Hollywood Reporter
Nelson Peltz, the Trian Management founder who is leading a proxy fight against the entertainment company, is targeting Disney board member Michael B.G. Froman in the battle. On Thursday, Peltz’s firm released a proxy form and began messaging Disney shareholders, urging them to withhold votes for Froman, and to vote for Peltz instead. Trian also…
Possible Trial Proxy Contest at Disney
[As Disney’s former CEO Bob Iger returns, the company] is facing a proxy fight from activist investor Nelson Peltz and his fund Trian Partners. Trian has nominated Peltz to serve on the board. In a presentation published on Jan. 11, the investment firm described many of Disney’s challenges as “self-inflicted” and advocated for the entertainment…
Agenda – Icahn Mulling Proxy Fight at McDonald’s Over … Pigs
The longest-running and highest-profile activist of them all may be mounting a new proxy contest, the first over what might be considered an ESG issue. [Carl Icahn appears to be preparing what could be his first foray into socially conscious investing with inspiration from an unlikely source: pigs. According to the Journal, Icahn is reportedly…
Activist Seen Winning 3rd ExxonMobil Seat in Preliminary Vote – Bloomberg
Exxon Mobil Corp. activist investor Engine No. 1 expanded its presence on the oil giant’s board to three seats, according to preliminary vote tallies, cementing a victory that has reverberated across the energy industry. The initial counts show the newest nominee from Engine No. 1’s slate elected to Exxon’s 12-member board is private-equity investor Alexander…
VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow on NPR Discussing Engine No. 1 and ExxonMobil
VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow talked about “the biggest upset since David and Goliath,” the proxy contest win by Engine No. 1 at ExxonMobil on NPR’s Morning Edition this morning.
Memo to Corporate Directors: Three Lessons from the Exxon-Mobil Activist Victory
Exxon-Mobil spent $35 million, added new directors, and made promises to do better, all in an effort to defeat the dissident slate nominated by activist fund Engine No. 1. It failed, and, at this writing, Exxon-Mobil has lost at least two seats on the board of directors and votes for two others were still being…
Activist Investors Nominate Nine Directors to Kohl’s Board – WSJ
A group of activist investors has a big stake in Kohl’s Corp. KSS 8.48% and is attempting to take control of the department-store chain’s board, according to people familiar with the matter. A group that includes activists Macellum Advisors GP LLC, Ancora Holdings Inc. and Legion Partners Asset Management LLC, as well as 4010 Capital…
ValueEdge Advisors 