Agrium announced today that it has successfully fended off a governance challenge launched by its largest shareholder.
Shareholders of the fertilizer company re-elected all 12 incumbent directors nominated by Agrium at the 2013 annual meeting.
They rejected a slate of five candidates put forward by Jana Partners, a hedge fund that owns seven percent of Agrium.
Jana contends its proposed directors would have addressed a lack of retail experience in the current board that is causing the share price of the company to underperform.
Jana wants Agrium to spin off the retail side of its fertilizer business and focus on the wholesale operation.
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At stake are 232 Canadian crop input retail outlets Agrium is in the process of acquiring from Viterra.
“This vote shows the overwhelming support for Agrium and its integrated strategy,” Agrium president Mike Wilson said in a news release issued this afternoon.
About 77 percent of Agrium’s 149 million eligible shares were voted. Excluding Jana’s shares, Jana nominees on average received less than 25 percent of the votes cast.
“We thank our shareholders for their overwhelming support in this vote and throughout this extended proxy contest,” Agrium chair Victor Zaleschuk said in a news release.
“Approximately 80 percent of our top 50 actively managed institutional shareholders voted for Agrium’s nominees.”
Jana issued a news release yesterday that said two of its five candidates, Barry Rosenstein and David Bullock, appeared destined to be elected to the board.
The company alleges Agrium contacted shareholders after the April 5 voting deadline asking them to switch their votes away from Rosenstein and Bullock.
