TORONTO (Canadian Press) — Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSX: MFI) says it will comply with the request of disgruntled shareholder West Face Capital and allow shareholders to vote on some of the activist hedge fund's proposals at its annual meeting.
The company says it will hold the meeting April 28 in Toronto to vote on five non-binding resolutions proposed by West Face, which owns about 11.4 per cent of the company's shares.
Maple Leaf says it chose to hold the vote at its annual meeting rather than a separate meeting to give shareholders the chance to consider the proposals in the context of a "board renewal process" and the election of directors.
It says it would also be too costly to hold two separate meetings.
West Face has complained that the Maple Leaf board is too big and alleges some of the directors are too closely involved on a personal level with the McCain family, which has control through special voting rights.
The hedge fund wants a non-binding vote on whether some board members are independent enough from the McCains, as well as to reduce the board to nine members from the current 12 and the adoption of a "say on pay" policy.
