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Friday, March 29, 2024

Carl Icahn Nominates Two Directors To Kroger

By Insightia. Originally published at ValueWalk.

Carl Icahn

What’s New In Activism: Carl Icahn At Kroger

Carl Icahn nominated two directors to U.S. grocer Kroger Co (NYSE:KR), citing concerns regarding animal welfare and the use of gestation crates in pork production. Icahn recently nominated two directors at McDonald’s for similar reasons.



In a March 29 press release, Kroger said Icahn put forward Alexis Fox and Margarita Palau-Hernandez to stand for election at its 2022 annual meeting. The grocer said it first heard from Icahn during the previous week, when he voiced concerns about animal welfare.


Q4 2021 hedge fund letters, conferences and more



“Kroger’s inaction towards creating meaningful animal welfare policies and verification methods is totally out of step with consumer desire and current legislation,” said Icahn in a March 29 letter to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen, which also accused the company of being tone deaf to living wage campaigns.

“While Kroger is not directly involved in raising or the processing of any animals, we are committed to helping protect the welfare of animals in our supply chain,” said Kroger.

Icahn reportedly has small stakes in Kroger and McDonald’s Corp (NYSE:MCD), suggesting the economic importance of the campaigns to the billionaire is negligible.

To arrange an online demo of Insightia’s Activism module, send us an email.

Activism chart of the week

Activism

So far this year (as of March 31, 2022), seven Australia-based companies have been publicly subjected to a remove personnel demand. That is compared to three in the same period last year.

Source: Insightia | Activism

What’s New In Proxy Voting: ICCR On Enhanced Climate Reporting

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) announced that shareholder proposals seeking enhanced climate reporting will be subject to a vote at major U.S. and Canadian banks, despite no-action challenges by three of the banks.

In a March 28 announcement, ICCR said that proposals asking Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Bank of Montreal, and Toronto Dominion Bank to end financing for new fossil fuel development would be subject to a vote.

Two additional proposals, filed by the Investors for Paris Compliance and British Colombia General Employees’ Union, asked the Royal Bank of Canada to update its criteria for sustainable finance to preclude fossil fuel activity and projects facing significant opposition from indigenous peoples, and to implement a policy to preclude the privatization of heavily polluting assets.

One of the shareholder proponents’ members, Trillium’s Director of Shareholder Advocacy Kate Monahan, said that the banks’ commitments to align with various science-based models and frameworks are at odds with their failure to cease funding new fossil fuel development.

To arrange an online demo of Insightia’s Voting module, send us an email

Voting chart of the week

Proxy Voting

In 2021, globally, shareholder proposals seeking to declassify boards received an average of 79% support in 2021. Management proposals to introduce classified boards were even more successful, averaging 86%.

Source: Insightia | Voting 

What’s New In Activist Shorts: White Diamond Targets Global Tech Industries

White Diamond Research targeted Global Tech Industries with fraud allegations, saying the company is a failed roll-up designed to enrich insiders.

In a March 31 short report, White Diamond said that despite spending $170 million on buying various firms between 2007 and 2020, Global Tech recorded only $115,000 in revenues during that period.

Despite this, the company’s executives have “generously” compensated themselves in cash and stock under a plan set to further increase Global Tech’s deficit, which was standing at $232 million at the end of the third quarter. It further noted that the combined compensation of Global Tech’s top two executives is higher than the company’s total assets.

Global Tech’s “historical and present acquisitions ambition seem to be leading nowhere but continued dilution of shareholders, no revenue, zero profit,” and a “huge and increasing accumulated deficit,” said White Diamond. 

To arrange an online demo of Insightia’s Shorts module, send us an email.

Shorts chart of the week

Activist Shorts

So far this year (as of April 01, 2022), eight technology companies have been publicly subjected to an activist short campaign. That is down from 16 in the same period last year.

Source: Insightia | Shorts

Quote Of The Week

This week’s quote comes from short seller Grizzly Research about Stan Bharti in a report on Emerita Resources. Read our coverage here.

“Stan uses his investment vehicle Forbes and Manhattan to facilitate transactions, and siphon money out of companies by ways of consulting fees, salary and bonuses. Stan usually than leaves the board/management team (so he doesn’t have to report transaction details), and the stock then appears to be ‘pumped and dumped’.”

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