By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Matthews International secured enough support to beat back a board-room challenge from Barington Capital Group as its shareholders voted to re-elect all three of the casket maker’s directors, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Votes are still being counted before Matthews’ annual meeting on Thursday and investors can change their votes up until the meeting, but by Wednesday evening the sources said that preliminary tallies show the company emerged victorious.
A Matthews representative declined to comment and a Barington representative was not immediately available for comment.
Barington, which owns roughly 2% of Matthews’ stock, nominated three candidates, arguing new blood is needed in the board room to replace long-serving Matthews CEO, Joseph Bartolacci, and consider changes to strategy, including making some divestments.
But shareholders largely lined up behind the company and rejected Barington’s three candidates, including the fund’s founder James Mitarotonda.
The fight, one of the year’s first to come to a vote, suggests a growing number of unhappy investors are ready to push corporations into expensive and time-consuming fights for board seats, industry analysts said.
The company last week announced corporate governance changes aimed at pushing up the stock price. It promised to appoint a new independent board chair by next year’s annual meeting, select a new independent director with experience in batteries and EV technology solutions, and ask shareholders to amend the company’s bylaws next year to ensure all directors stand for election annually.
This was Barington’s first proxy fight since 2015 and it had the backing from three proxy advisory firms who all recommended that investors elect all three of Barington’s candidates to the 11-member board.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Sandra Maler and Stephen Coates)
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