Jana Partners LLC, Agrium Inc.’s largest shareholder, today announced four independent director candidates it intends to propose together with Jana Managing Partner Barry Rosenstein for election to the Agrium board of directors: David Bullock, Stephen Clark, Mitchell Jacobson, and The Honourable Lyle Vanclief.
Jana says these individuals will add critical oversight to a board that for years has tolerated suboptimal capital allocation, failure to manage costs, structural issues, lack of transparency, and share price underperformance relative to a weighted average of Agrium’s peers and to its potential. Jana also disclosed that its stake has risen to more than 6 percent of Agrium’s shares.
Jana says three of the candidates are seasoned distribution executives with proven records creating value as operators, and in some cases directors, at companies recently cited by Agrium as peers for its distribution business (Retail), while none of Agrium’s current independent directors have such experience despite the substantial size and significance of Retail. These individuals also have direct experience operating distribution businesses in the U.S., Retail’s principal market, as well as other geographies.
Jana’s fourth independent candidate is the former Canadian Minister of Agriculture, who will bring to the board his experience dealing with complex agricultural issues in government as well as his prior direct experience operating a commercial farm.