David Einhorn has suffered another setback. Investors in General Motors ran his proxy proposal off the road and into a ditch, rejecting his plan to divide the company’s stock into two classes and electing GM’s board nominees overwhelmingly. According to CNBC, more than 91 percent of shareholder votes opposed the stock split. The car maker’s stock owners also rejected Greenlight’s slate of three directors. “On behalf of our Board and management, we appreciate the significant support of our shareholders as we continue to transform GM and increase the value of their investment,” said Mary Barra, chairman and CEO, in a statement. “We value the perspectives of our shareholders and will continue to actively engage with them — and relevant external experts — as we enhance our core business, deploy capital to higher-return opportunities, and advance our leadership in the future of personal mobility.” In a statement, Einhorn said: “We decided to bring a creative idea to GM’s shareholders and nominate directors to help fix GM’s inefficient capital structure and unlock significant value for all shareholders. We are disappointed that shareholders have elected to maintain the status quo. We congratulate GM’s management on their win today.” Shares of GM were mostly unchanged, closing at $34.43. Greenlight has had a tough time this year. We earlier reported that it is down 3.3 percent for the year through May.
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Three Trian Fund Management funds sold about 5.35 million shares of Wendy’s for $15.97 per share, reducing the firm’s total stake in the fast-food chain to 22.4 percent. In a regulatory filing, the activist hedge fund firm said the sales were principally connected to the sale of all of the shares held by its Strategic Fund related to the upcoming expiration of the fund’s eight-year term.
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Highbridge Capital Management disclosed it owns 3.5 million of CF Corp., or 5.07 percent of the total. CF, which went public a little over a year ago, is a permanent capital vehicle created to make acquisitions.
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Point72 Asset Management, the family office of Steven Cohen, disclosed that as of June 5 it more than tripled its stake in Dynavax Technologies Corp. to nearly 2.54 million shares, or 5.2 percent of the total. Dynavax is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company seeking to develop drugs that prevent infectious disease, treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, and treat cancer.
