Jana fails to take seats on Agrium board
Jana Partners LLC has failed to take any seats on the Agrium Inc.’s board of directors; it was announced at today’s Agrium shareholders meeting. In all Jana was seeking to name five to the 12-member board.
Jana Chief Barry Rosenstein spoke at the meeting and lambasted Agrium for a “tainted” election. He said Jana believed it had initially won up to two seats on the board, until Agrium lobbied shareholders to change their votes. Jana said it would investigate Agrium’s push to get shareholders to change their votes. He also said Jana, Agrium’s largest shareholder with a 7.5 percent stake, was “not going away.”
Agrium said it was always just speculation that Jana had won two seats and that it was Jana’s loss, pure and simple, fair and square. The company said it was Agrium’s victory; it was decisive and the results were beyond reproach.