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Updated: January 10, 2025 @ 9:04 am
WFMZ.com Reporter
UPPER MACUNGIE TWP., Pa.- A major proxy advisory firm is siding with an activist investor in its tug-of-war with Air Products (APD) over the industrial gas company’s future.
Glass Lewis is recommending that Air Products shareholders support all four board of director candidates put forth by Mantle Ridge.
Those candidates are Mantle Ridge founder Paul Hilal, as well as Andrew Evans, Tracy McKibben, and Dennis Reilley.
Mantle Ridge is also recommending Air Products CEO Seifi Ghasemi be replaced.
It has put forth Eduardo Menezes, a former top executives at Air Products’ rival Linde, as a candidate.
Glass Lewis is also advising Air Products shareholders to vote “withhold” on company board nominees Ghasemi, Charles Cogut, Lisa Davis, and Edward Monser.
In issuing its recommendation, Glass Lewis said, in part:
“All factors considered, we believe the case for change here is compelling. Indeed, following years of poor performance fueled by a spate of high-cost, low-visibility strategic expeditions pointedly departing from APD’s core risk profile — and in view of a functionally vacant succession framework slated to leave CEO Seifi Ghasemi in an indefinite position of influence — we consider Mantle Ridge has provided shareholders with a clear, credible and proportionate alternative backed by suitably experienced, independent candidates.”
The tension between Air Products and Mantle Ridge has intensified in recent weeks, with both sides issuing a number of letters to shareholders, laying out their respective cases.
Air Products, based in Upper Macungie Township, appealed to shareholders again Thursday, with a letter refuting a number of Mantle Ridge claims about the quality of its nominees and its assessment of APD’s financial outlook, writing in part:
“Mantle Ridge is seeking to mislead shareholders to achieve its self-interested, short-term goals. It has provided false and out-of-context information in a desperate attempt to distract from Air Products’ progress and the deficiencies of Mantle Ridge’s underqualified director candidates, who are inferior to Air Products’ highly qualified candidates.”
Shareholders will vote on January 23.
Proxy advisory firms are charged with providing data and information to company shareholders so they can make informed decisions. Glass Lewis is the first such firm to issue its recommendation ahead of Air Products’ meeting.
Its larger U.S. rival, Institutional Shareholder Services, has not yet weighed in.
WFMZ.com Reporter
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