Blucora shareholders re-elect board, reject four Ancora nominees (updated)

Avantax

21/04/2021 21:43

(Adds details on proxy contest, comment from company)
    By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
    BOSTON, April 21 (Reuters) - Blucora Inc  BCOR.O 
shareholders voted to re-elect the financial services firm's 10
current board members, rejecting dissident investor Ancora
Holdings' proposal to seat four newcomers, the company said on
Wednesday.
    Irving, Texas-based Blucora had told shareholders, which
include large index funds and hedge funds, that its directors
were better qualified to lead the company and that a number of
recently made changes were beginning to bear fruit.
    The company replaced the chief executive and chief financial
officers last year amid concerns about performance, positioned
the company's two tax-focused businesses for long-term growth,
and added new independent directors in 2020 and 2021.
    Ancora Holdings, one of Blucora's top 10 shareholders,
thought differently and launched a proxy contest in February
when it nominated four directors to the board and urged the
company to consider selling its tax services business.
    Ancora, which invests $8 billion for clients, argued that
there were few synergies between Blucora's wealth management and
registered advisory business, Avantax, and its TaxAct unit.
    "We have substantially more work to do, but we appreciate
the recognition from our stockholders that Blucora is a
profoundly different and stronger company than it was just a
year ago," Blucora said in a statement.
    Shareholders' votes, made in the runup to Wednesday's annual
meeting, illustrate how activist investors are returning with
big requests after a more subdued 2020 when they largely gave
management teams more leeway because of the coronavirus
pandemic. 
    The battle between Ancora and Blucora went all the way to a
vote while other corporate skirmishes were settled.
    Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services had
recommended that change is warranted at Blucora and that
shareholders should vote for Frederick DiSanto, who is chairman
and CEO of Cleveland-based Ancora. Rival proxy firm Glass, Lewis
had urged shareholders to back all of the company's directors.

 (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by David Gregorio
and Will Dunham)
 ((svea.herbst@thomsonreuters.com; +617 856 4331; Reuters
Messaging: svea.herbst.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))