Pubs billionaire dealt third blow in proxy war against Wavish election

afr.com:

Proxy firm Ownership Matters told clients to vote against the election of Bruce Mathieson jnr and proposed director Bill Wavish to the Endeavour Group board.

This makes it a third significant blow to pubs billionaire Bruce Mathieson’s campaign to shake up the board.

Pubs billionaire Bruce Mathieson owns 15 per cent of Endeavour Group.  Arsineh Houspian

Ownership Matters also told clients to vote against the approval of long-term incentives for chief executive Steve Donohue.

Proxy firm ISS also recommended clients vote against the election of Mr Wavish to the Endeavour board. Ownership Matters and ISS follow CGI Glass Lewis’s advice to clients on October 13 to vote against the election of Mr Wavish to the board of the owner of Dan Murphy’s and BWS chains. 

ISS in its recommendations outlined that the Endeavour board was not backing the election of Mr Wavish, and that was an important factor in ISS’ decision.

“Noting the importance of a functioning and cohesive board, many shareholders acknowledge that the board is generally best placed to determine who should be a director,” the ISS statement said.

“Ultimately, many shareholders believe that it is generally counterproductive to support the election of a director who is not endorsed by the company’s board, unless there are compelling grounds to do so.”

But ISS did say in its analysis of the issues that some shareholders may prefer to support the nomination of Mr Wavish because he had the endorsement of Mr Mathieson, who owns 15 per cent of Endeavour.

ISS also noted that given Mr Wavish’s retail and finance experience, he may contribute at a high level to board skills and decision-making, and “the company has disclosed that it is currently identifying new director