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A Shareholder Liaison Committee? Really? 

The resolution of the Tempur Sealy matter involving H Partners includes the formation of a "Stockholder Liaison Committee". That committee will handle "communication and engagement between the Board and stockholders." We've never seen one of these before in the US, although a couple of French banks have such an entity.

 

Neither Tempur Sealy nor H Partners invented the idea. Vanguard encourages portfolio companies to create such a committee. This idea seems to follow from the shareholder engagement programs that companies have started to adopt. Our partners, clients, and colleagues know what we think of those.

 

Why isn't the board of directors the "shareholder liaison committee"?

 

We'd love to find out how Tempur Sealy and H Partners included this baloney in its negotiations. We'd hate to learn that H Partners actually demanded it, after their masterful proxy vote maneuvers.

 

MRL

Recent TAI blog posts

 

If You're Waiting for ISS, It Might Be Too Late (5/5/15) 

When Did US R&D Investment Become Investors' Problem? (4/28/15)

UPDATE: An Insightful Comment on How Nelson Peltz Works (4/23/15 email)

How Nelson Peltz Works (4/21/15) 

More Games, Strategy Committees Now Play (4/16/15 email) 

Marc Andreessen Reminds Us Activist Investors Will Always Have Stuff to Do (4/14/15)

You can find other useful resources at the TAI website, including our research on "Effective Activism", our new resource guides on attorneys for activist investors and on activist investing data sourcesour white paper with the basics on activist investing, and our new guides on exempt solicitationconsent solicitation, and special shareholder meetings. 
For further information, please contact:
 
Michael R. Levin
[email protected]
847.830.1479