Cincinnati.com – A New York City hedge fund pushing Chemed Corp. to split up its plumbing and hospice care businesses has filed its own slate of five directors for the downtown-based company’s May 18 shareholder’s meeting.

In filing its five nominees Thursday, MMI Investments, which last month urged Chemed to split up its businesses to increase investor returns, said it wasn’t seeking control of the 11-member board but "to obtain better representation of stockholders and enhance stockholder value.”

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New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Hedge Fund Davidson Kempner Capital Management has declared a proxy victory after replacing all but one of the board members of the Sun-Times Media Group.

Davidson Kempner, who owns a 6% share in the parent company of the Chicago Sun-Times, expressed its discontent with the current board, blaming them for the financial woes of the company. 

Hedge funds are no strangers to shaking up boards of companies in which they invest, many times in order to gain a strategic position where they can be involved in management and the decision making process in hopes of garnering higher returns for shareholders.

"Through the provision of these consents, the stockholders have made clear their desire and support for a board of directors that is made up of professionals experienced in publishing and restructuring," said Davidson Kempner. "Given the operating and financial challenges before Sun-Times, we believe that the reconstituted board has the better potential to guide and lead Sun-Times."

The new slate includes Jeremy Halbreich, former General Manager for the Dallas Morning News and executives Michael Katzenstein and Robert Schmitz.   Robert Poole, who holds an 11% stake in the company, will remain on the board.  The hedge fund has also vocalized their desire to dump current CEO Cyrus Freidheim.

Julie Scuderi
Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net
Email: julie@hedgeco.net

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Houston Business Journal – A noisy, contentious proxy battle ended quietly Wednesday when shareholders of Vaalco Energy Inc. voted in the company’s chosen slate of board directors.

Houston-based Vaalco (NYSE:EGY) had spent the past three months fending off an attack from a New York hedge fund that was formed in January and built up a substantial position of shares — 4.7 million — on the open market before disclosing its position in March.

Nanes Delorme Partners I LP had proposed its own slate of three directors for election at the meeting and demanded big changes at the exporation and production company, which has most of its holdings in West Africa.

Vaalco had filed a lawsuit against the hedge fund as part of its response to the coup attempt but has dropped the proceedings as part of an agreement cobbled together late in the evening of May 23 to end the dispute. Nanes Delormes in turn agreed to vote in favor of Vaalco’s director nominees.

Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis & Co. weighed in a day earlier, recommending that shareholders withhold support for Vaalco board nominees W. Russell Scheirman, president and chief financial officer, and Arne Nielsen. The proxy firm said it agreed with many of the corporate governance and stock performance issues raised by Nanes Delormes.

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