One of Canada’s largest food processors is changing the membership of its board of directors to appease disgruntled shareholders.
Maple Leaf Foods has reached an agreement with West Face Capital to have its chief executive officer Greg Boland sit on the board and on its corporate governance and human resources and compensation committees.
West Face Capital owns 11.4 percent of Maple Leaf.
In return, West Face will drop its requisition for a special meeting that was to vote on the composition of the board.
Maple Leaf’s board also announced it will reduce the size of the board to 10 or 12 from 14.
Also, the board has hired an executive search company to help it identify another independent director for nomination at the company annual general meeting coming up on April 28.
Boland has been critical about the close relationships between the family of Maple Leaf chief executive Michael McCain and other board members.
The McCain family’s influence in the company was reduced when a relationship with the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund dissolved and the fund sold its 35 percent in the company last year.
The company is involved in a multiyear reorganization designed to increase its profitability. It is selling food processing plants across the country and concentrating operations in a few locations.
This week it announced the closure of a prepared meats plant at Surrey, B.C.
