Pension Funds Press For Changes At Massey Energy
October 05 2010 - 6:36PM
Dow Jones News
An investor group including Calpers is asking shareholders to
vote on Massey Energy Co.'s (MEE) management-sponsored governance
proposals at a meeting Wednesday that marks the latest in an
investor push for changes in management.
The issues at stake--including proposals that would institute
annual elections of directors, eliminate supermajority voting
requirements and allow shareholders to call special
meetings--gained momentum after the deadliest U.S. coal mining
accident in 40 years killed 29 at a Massey mine in April.
"Last spring's disaster at Upper Big Branch invited sharp
demands for improved approaches to safety, health, management,
compensation and governance practices," Pennsylvania State
Treasurer Rob McCord said in a statement from the investor
group.
The group does not support a proposal to remove cumulative
voting, which would let shareowners apply all of their combined
shares for director seats to one or more candidates rather than
separately for each director.
"Investors have pushed for these governance changes to
strengthen accountability," said Anne Simpson, senior portfolio
manager heading the corporate governance program for the California
Public Employees' Retirement System, the biggest U.S. public
pension fund by assets. "Now is the time to act and make sure those
changes take place."
"My only comment would be to urge shareholders to vote," said
Roger Hendriksen, Richmond, Va.-based Massey's director of investor
relations.
The company came under fire this spring from institutional
investors alleging that company safety lapses contributed to an
April 5 explosion in Montcoal, W.Va., that killed 29 men.
Public-pension fund managers urged the ouster of three board
members at the company's annual meeting in May.
Massey recently added two new outside directors amid concern
from some investors that existing directors aren't sufficiently
independent of Massey's CEO Don Blankenship. This spring the
union-backed CtW Investment Group said Blankenship should be
removed from his posts.
The investors coalition--which also includes the Office of
Connecticut State Treasurer, Illinois State Board of Investment,
Maryland State Pension and Retirement System, New York State Common
Retirement Fund, North Carolina Department of State Treasurer, and
Pennsylvania Treasury--owns 1,556,331 shares of Massey Energy
valued at over $23 million.
-By Matt Whittaker, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2139;
matt.whittaker@dowjones.com
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