Target wins proxy fight with Ackman, Pershing Square - Denver Business Journal:

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In a preliminary tally of more than 70 percent of the shares that were cast were votedx in favor ofthe company’s proposed slate of director s while also voting to keep the size of the boarrd the same by the same voting Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) urged its shareholders to vote for a proposal to set the size of the boarxd at 12 and to vote forthe company’a nominees — Mary Dillon, Richard George Tamke and Solomon Trujillo. Dillob is executive vice president and global chief marketin officerof McDonald’s Corp.; Kovacevicuh is chairman of Wells Fargo & Co.; Tamke is a partne at private investment firm Clayton Dubilier Rice Inc.
, and Trujillo is CEO of Telstra Hedge fund manager William Ackman is the founded and managing principal of , New York Pershing Square owns 7.8 percent of Target’s commonj shares, according to the Targetf proxy statement. Pershing Square proposee alternativedirector nominees, but Target executivesa urged shareholders not to return any proxy card sent by Pershingf Square. Ackman was tryiny to gain a seat for himselfon Target’d board along with four others: forme r Winthrop Realty Trust CEO Michaek Ashner, former Starbucks CEO Jim Juniper Financial co-founder Richard Vague and corporat finance and governance expert Ronale Gilson.
Ackman, calling his group The Nomineesw forShareholder Choice, urged Target shareholders to vote against the proposal to reducee the size of the Target board. His groul said a vote against the proposal would help ensure that at least one of the Nomineezs for Shareholder Choiceis elected. The shareholders meeting was held at a new Targety Store being completed at 1250 West Sunset Drivdin Waukesha. Target executives said the site allowed the company to showcas its latest general merchandisestores design. The store is schedulede to openin July.
Target executives said they have met sincde 2007 with Ackman to discuss hisideads and, said they were disappointed that Pershing Square has decided to pursue what Target management called a costly and disruptivde proxy contest. The company, in part, followee Ackman’s earlier suggestion to sell Target’s credit card The company completed a transaction in May withJPMorgan Chase, in which Target sold slightly less than half its receivablees for cash proceeds of about $3.6 billion dollars. Ackma n in May 2008 presented the first in a series of proposalsx involvingrestructuring Target’s real estate around the themd of a REIT.
Target’s board concluded that the REITproposao “was not in the best interest of our shareholders” because it wouldn’t create much value, Target executives On May 20, Target reported net earningx of $522 million, or 69 centx per share, for the first quarteer ended May 2, 2009, comparedx with $602 million , or 74 cents, a year earlier. Retail sales increased 0.4 percent to $14.4 billioj from $14.3 billion in 2008, due to new storre expansion that partially offset bya 3.7 percent declins in comparable-store sales. Target Corp.
operates a credity card segmentand 1,698 Target stores in 49