Shareholders vote to oust chair of Trian UK investment firm (updated)
08/08/2022 10:12
(Adds detail, comments)
LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Shareholders of UK investment
trust Trian Investors 1 Ltd (TI1) TI1.L have voted to remove
Chris Sherwell as the firm's chair after criticism from activist
investors over various governance issues.
Shareholder advisory firm Glass Lewis had backed a call by
shareholders Global Value Fund, Invesco, Janus Henderson JHG.N
and Pelham, which together hold around 40% of TI1 shares, to
remove Sherwell over issues including recent changes to the
trust's strategy. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Z71IO
Shareholders also voted at an extraordinary general meeting
(EGM) on Aug. 5 to add Robert Legget, one of the activists'
choice of directors, to the board, TI1 said in a statement on
Monday. However it did not say who the trust's new chair would
be.
The votes were close, with 50.72% in favour of the changes.
"We ... thank our outgoing chairman Chris Sherwell for his
leadership and many contributions to the company," TI1 said in a
statement, adding that it expected to provide shareholders with
a further update with or before the release of its interim
results in September.
The rebel shareholders said in a separate statement that
they had "every confidence that with a new Chairman, steps can
be taken to restore the trust and confidence of shareholders in
governance and operations at the company".
The activists had expressed concerns about recent changes to
TI1's strategy on the number and type of its investments,
proposals to turn the trust into a special purpose acquisition
company (SPAC), and about its share price performance.
TI1's investment management strategy is carried out by
activist investor Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management, itself
an activist investor, taking stakes in companies and seeking
changes in order to boost their share price.
Holdings include stakes in Unilever ULVR.L and Wendy’s
WEN.O .
At the EGM, TI1 shareholders voted to keep Simon Holden and
Anita Rival as directors, also by a narrow margin. ISS, another
shareholder advisory firm, had backed the removal of Rival, but
was against sacking Sherwell.
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by David Goodman and David
Holmes)
((carolyn.cohn@thomsonreuters.com; 44 207 513 4391;))