Pershing Square Nominates Three to ADP's Board, Easing Demands -- Update
07 Agosto 2017 - 6:50PM
Dow Jones News
By David Benoit
Pershing Square Capital Management LP said it is nominating its
founder William Ackman and two others to the board of Automatic
Data Processing Inc., backing off of its previous demand for half
the board.
Friday, ADP took an unusual step by disclosing demands the
activist had made privately as the human-resources software company
rejected a request from Mr. Ackman to delay the deadline needed to
nominate directors.
ADP said Mr. Ackman had asked for five seats on the 10-person
board and wanted to replace the company's chief executive, Carlos
Rodriguez. The company labeled it an attempt to gain control and
defended Mr. Rodriguez's record and its board.
Monday, the fund said along with Mr. Ackman it was nominating
Veronica M. Hagen, the 71-year-old former chief executive of
materials company Polymer Group Inc. and V. Paul Unruh, 68 years
old and a former executive at Bechtel Group, a privately held
construction-and-engineering firm.
ADP said it would evaluate the nominees now that it had the
names, but reiterated it believes it has a "strong and independent"
board.
The stinging Friday release from ADP, sent on the first morning
of a vacation ADP knew Mr. Ackman was taking, set the table for a
fight over the board. The vote is set to take place at the
company's annual meeting, likely in November.
Though Mr. Ackman is known for aggressive moves and long-winded
attempts to convince doubters of his ideas, he has only
occasionally run a full-on fight for board seats. In recent years,
he has only started proxy fights three times, typically getting
board seats through negotiations instead.
When he has had to fight, the campaigns have been publicly
heated. He canceled a fight over the board at Allergan Inc. after
it agreed to be bought by Actavis PLC in 2014, he won a campaign
against Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. in 2012, and he lost an
attempt at Target Corp. in 2009.
Pershing Square said it would hold a presentation on Aug. 17 to
detail its thesis.
Write to David Benoit at david.benoit@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 07, 2017 17:35 ET (21:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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