Forward Air directors exit board after activist Ancora's campaign
Three directors of Forward Air are resigning from the board following a campaign by activist investor Ancora Holdings, which owns about 4% of the company. Ancora urged shareholders to vote against the directors at the recent annual meeting, leading to the resignation of board chairman George Mayes, who failed to secure enough support for re-election. Although the other two targeted directors, Javier Polit and Laurie Tucker, were re-elected, they chose to resign immediately. Ancora's campaign aimed to address dissatisfaction with a previous acquisition and push for a sale of the company.
By Svea Herbst-Bayliss, Utkarsh Shetti
June 12 (Reuters) -
Three Forward Air directors are leaving the board, the U.S. company said on Thursday, after activist investor Ancora Holdings mounted a campaign to unseat them as it pushes the freight forwarder to consider
selling itself
.
Ancora urged shareholders not to vote for the three directors at Wednesday’s annual shareholder meeting and George Mayes, who had been the board chairman, failed to secure enough support to be re-elected.
Company guidelines forced him to resign. The other two targeted directors, Javier Polit and Laurie Tucker, were re-elected but chose to resign immediately, the company said.
Last month, Ancora, which owns roughly 4% of Forward Air, launched a “withhold the vote”
campaign
to force out the three for their roles in an unpopular acquisition and to accelerate a sale of the company. Directors are required to resign if they receive less than 50.1% support in a shareholder vote.