Jana Partners urges Zendesk shareholders to vote its nominees to board (updated)

Momentive Global

17/03/2022 13:22

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    March 17 (Reuters) - Activist investment firm Jana Partners
on Thursday urged Zendesk Inc  ZEN.N  shareholders to vote its
four nominees to the software firm's board at the company's
annual meeting.
    Jana, which launched the proxy contest a week before Zendesk
shareholders voted against the acquisition of
SurveyMonkey-parent Momentive Global  MNTV.O , nominated four
directors to the board arguing the company must be rehabilitated
after the unpopular deal attempt.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2UQ224
    The investment firm had nominated Quincy Allen, Felicia
Alvaro, and Jeffrey Fox, executives with expertise in the
software and technology industries as well as experience in
mergers and acquisitions and finance. It also nominated Scott
Ostfeld, a partner and a co-portfolio manager at Jana Partners.
    The four candidates would run against Zendesk's four
directors who are slated for election this year, including two
of the three Zendesk directors who served on the transaction
committee that spearheaded the Momentive transaction. 
    In October, Zendesk agreed to buy Momentive in an all-stock
deal worth roughly $4 billion. Zendesk's stock price fell after
the acquisition announcement and remained more than 20% below
its pre-deal price until Nov. 30, when Jana wrote a letter
publicly opposing the plans and urged the company to abandon the
acquisition.
    


 (Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru and Svea Herbst-Bayliss
in New York; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
 ((Eva.Mathews@thomsonreuters.com;))