Sun Capital says it won Furniture Brands proxy vote
Company hasn’t reported official election results
Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, May 1, 2008
ST. LOUIS — Sun Capital Partners claimed victory Thursday in its proxy fight with Furniture Brands International, saying shareholders elected its three nominees to the board of directors “by a substantial margin.”
Sun Capital based its claim on an estimate made by proxy solicitation firm by D.F. King at the conclusion of Thursday’s session of the annual shareholders meeting.
In a later statement, Furniture Brands said its board had adjourned the annual meeting Thursday and will reconvene May 20, when it will announce results of the proxy vote. “Because of the contested nature of this year’s annual meeting, a final reconciliation of the election will require authentication by an independent inspector of elections,” the company said.
Sun Capital, which is FBI’s second-largest shareholder, said the vote means nominees Alan Schwartz, Ira Kaplan and T. Scott King will get seats on the eight-member FBI board. It wasn’t immediately clear which FBI nominees were ousted, but Sun Capital had been urging shareholders to vote against Richard Loynd, Albert Suter and Katherine Bell.
“The election of Sun Capital’s nominees is a victory for all Furniture Brands shareholders,” said Jason Bernzweig, a Sun Capital vice president. “Today’s results demonstrate shareholders desire for constructive change at Furniture Brands, and we are gratified by their support for our nominees.”
The proxy fight between the company and Sun Capital, which owns 9.45% of FBI’s stock, has been ongoing for about a month, and became increasingly contentious as today’s annual meeting grew near.
Each side accused the other of not acting in the best interests of all shareholders.
Talkback
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Well good by FBI looks like you would have seen the writing on the wall from Benchcraft....
- 2008-05-03 08:39:58 -
Yes, Sun will be in a good position to influence change, but keep in mind that Sun...
- 2008-05-02 18:38:24 -
If Sun does put them in Chap. 11 at least it won't be the slow and certain death that the...
- 2008-05-02 17:27:01
