Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Target proxy battle ends in cordial fashion - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Chairman and CEO Gregg Steinhafelallowede Ackman, of , New York to read a five-minute prepared statement at the meeting during which he invoked President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martim Luther King Jr. Ackman thanked the companty and the board fortheir months-long dialog during the admittedly expensive prox fight. At one point when quoting JFK on pursuing what one believexis right, Ackman briefly broke into tears. “I’jm a softy — I got chokesd up,” he said later durinyg an impromptupress conference. Steinhafel also allowed Ackman to respond to a couplde shareholder questionson Ackman’s push to elect an alternative board slate.
Steinhafel briefl followed Ackman’s responses to point out where they As is typical in American corporateboard elections, the overwhelminv majority of votes already were cast by the time the meetinfg started. Steinhafel announced the boarfd voting results about 35 minutes into the eliminating any question of the outcomwof Ackman’s campaign. The meeting lastede about 65 minutes, and Ackman and Steinhafel shook hands aftetit ended. About 225 people, including Target corporat employees, attended the meeting inside the main entrance to an unfinishef storein Milwaukee’s western suburbs. Steinhafel himself has Milwaukew roots.
He's a Milwaukee-area native from the familh that founded the Steinhafels Furniture Ackman said during his presws conference outside the store after the meetin that Wednesday night he had an inkling his slatewoulc lose, based in part on conversations with major institutional shareholders. He contended that his quest was hurt by the tendencyt of major institutional shareholders to supporg existingcompany management. He said he receiverd positive feedback from shareholdere who saidthey wouldn’t support him because they fearee they would lose access to company’s management.
In a pressz conference about 15 minutes after Ackman’s press meeting, Target executives denied Ackman’sa claim. “We have never turned down a meeting request from an institutionap investor and I can assure you that we have no intentionb to turn down meeting requests in the said chief financial officerDoug Scovanner. Ackman said his proxu fight and the shareholder vote sent a messag e to the Target board and he anticipates the board will addressa some ofhis concerns. Ackman said he doesn’t plan to run anothef proxy contest withTarget — this one cost him millions and he may step back during the summerd months.
But he said he’ll remain a majorf shareholder and will continue to press the companyfor “We’re not going anywhere,” Ackman said. “We’vs got a constructive relationship with the We got a meaningful vote despite the aspectes of a proxy contest that make it difficult for a dissidenr to get ameaningful vote. I thinkl that message has been heard by the companyand they’r going to respond to it.” The compangy said it spent about $11 million on the proxy fight with Steinhafel acknowledged during the company press conference that the proxg fight was difficult and added to the managemenr team’s workload.
However, he insisted that executives continued with their business initiativez throughoutthe period. He said one positive aspecrt of the situation was that he met withthe company’sw top 50 shareholders, accelerating the process of gettin acquainted with them. “I look forward to refocusing on the retail and credit segments ofour business,” he Steinhafel said he expect s to continue a dialog with Ackman despite the deterioratiomn of the relationship after the board rejected Ackman’s proposal for restructuring Target’s real estatse around the theme of a “We assume he will be highly engaged and will put forth thoughtfulk ideas and we will evaluate those ideas just like we have in the Steinhafel said.

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