Hostility remained high yesterday between the board of Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE:LGF) and activist investor Carl Icahn after shareholders voted in favour of the company's shareholder rights plan.
About 55.7% of shareholders voted in favour of the company’s shareholder rights plan, or 'poison pill', aimed at preventing Icahn from taking over the company. Approximately 91% of the film company’s shareholders cast votes towards the proposal.
The vote went ahead even though the B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC) decided to cease trade the 'poison pill' a couple weeks ago.
The company said approximately 70% of shareholders, excluding shares affiliated with Icahn, voted in favour of the shareholder rights plan and 30% voted against.
Icahn said in a statement it was “amusing” the company stated the proportion of votes in favour of the plan excluding his own votes.
“It seems to me that there is nothing quite so desperate as contemplating how well you would have done if only those voting against you were not counted.”
Icahn also noted that more than 37.6 million shares purchased after March 23 were not allowed to vote.
Lions Gate’s shares closed down a cent to US$6.91 per share by the end of trading Wednesday following the vote announcement.
Icahn also said the vote was “very expensive for the company, a waste of money and a non-event. However, we were gratified to see that, like us, many shareholders who did vote opposed the poison pill.”
Lions Gate said it continues to evaluate alternatives with respect to the BCSC’s cease trade order on the shareholder rights plan.