Target wins proxy fight with activist shareholder - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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In a preliminary tally of voting, more than 70 percen of the shares that were cast were voted in favor ofthe company’w proposed slate of directors while also votinfg to keep the size of the board the same by the similae voting margin. “Today’s outcome demonstrates the confidencwe Target shareholders have inour Board’ss qualifications, diversity and experience to providr effective and independent oversight and direction to the contributing to the creation of one of the most recognizee brands in the Unitecd States," Target president and CEO Gregvg Steinhafel said in a press release.
Target (NYSE: TGT) urged its shareholders to vote for a proposao to set the size of the board at 12 and to vote forthe company’a nominees — Mary Dillon, Richard Kovacevich, Georgew Tamke and Solomon Trujillo. Dillon is executivwe vice president and global chief marketing officerof McDonald’s Kovacevich is chairman of Wells Fargo Co.; Tamke is a partner at private investmenft firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice and Trujillo is CEO of Telstraw Corp. Hedge fund manager Williak Ackman is the founder and managing principapof , New York City. Pershin Square owns 7.8 percent of Target’s common shares, according to the Target proxy statement.
Pershing Squares proposed alternativedirector nominees, but Target executives urgex shareholders not to return any proxy card sent by Pershinb Square. Ackman was tryinfg to gain a seat for himselfon Target’ds board along with four others: former Winthrop Realth Trust CEO Michael Ashner, formee Starbucks CEO Jim Juniper Financial co-founder Richard Vague and corporate financre and governance expert Ronald Gilson. Ackman, calling his group The Nominees forShareholder Choice, urgedd Target shareholders to vote against the proposal to reducr the size of the Target board.
His grou p said a vote against the proposapl would help ensure that at leastg one of the Nominees for Shareholde r Choiceis elected. Commenting after the meeting, Ackman said he and Donald received more than 20 percen t of theshareholder vote. "That's a big number in light of what we were up Ackman said. Ackman said he had hopes for a morepositive outcome, but he still believe d that the final tally was a victory for The shareholders meeting was held at a new Targeft Store being completed at 1250 West Sunset Drive in Target executives said the site allowe the company to showcase its latest general merchandise store The store is schedulexd to open in July.
Target executives said they have met sinced 2007 with Ackman to discuss hisidead and, said they were disappointef that Pershing Square has decidec to pursue what Target managementf called a costly and disruptivr proxy contest. The company, in part, followed Ackman’s earlier suggestionn to sell Target’s credit card receivables. The companyg completed a transaction in May with JPMorgan in which Target sold slightly less than half its receivablez for cash proceeds ofabout $3.6 billiob dollars.
Ackman in May 2008 presented the firsrt in a series of proposals involvingrestructuring Target’sx real estate around the theme of a Target’s board concluded that the REIT proposal “was not in the best interesty of our shareholders” becausde it wouldn’t create much value, Target executives said. On May 20, Target reported net earnings of $522 or 69 cents per share, for the first quartefr ended May 2, 2009, comparedx with $602 million , or 74 cents, a year earlier. Retailp sales increased 0.4 percent to $14.4 billion from $14.w billion in 2008, due to new storee expansion that partially offset bya 3.7 percenyt decline in comparable-store sales. Targett Corp.
operates a credit card segmentrand 1,698 Target stores in 49 states.