Big super funds against pubs billionaire’s Endeavour shake-up
Pubs billionaire Bruce Mathieson’s campaign for a shake-up of the Endeavour Group board has suffered another blow.
The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, which represents super funds with $1 trillion in assets, is recommending shareholders in Endeavour vote against the re-election of his son, Bruce Mathieson jnr.
ACSI is also recommending shareholders vote against the push by Mr Mathieson snr to have Bill Wavish installed on the board to engineer an overhaul of the Dan Murphy’s parent. ACSI members include Australian Super, the third-largest shareholder in Endeavour with a 7.6 per cent stake. The Mathieson family owns 15 per cent.
But in a partial rebuke to Endeavour, ACSI is also recommending a vote against a resolution to approve a long-term incentive grant to chief executive Steve Donohue.
Endeavour Group owns the Dan Murphy’s liquor chain, BWS and 354 hotels.
Endeavour operates 266 Dan Murphy’s stores, 1435 BWS liquor stores and 354 hotels with 12,700 poker machines. A boardroom stoush became public in late September as Mr Mathieson snr stepped up his efforts to have Mr Wavish elected. Three proxy advisory firms, ISS, CGI Glass Lewis and Ownership Matters have already recommended shareholders vote against Mr Wavish’s election.
A report by ACSI in the lead-up to the October 31 annual meeting said it made the recommendation against Mr Mathieson jnr’s re-election “given the risks to shareholders of a divided board”.
Mr Mathieson jnr declined to comment on the proxy reports. A source close to him said his focus is acting in the interest of all shareholders and working with the board to improve company performance.
The Endeavour board told the ASX on Thursday that should Mr Mathieson jnr’s re-election not
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