Taseko has been embroiled in a bitter proxy battle with a U.S. shareholder group collectively known as Raging River Capital LP, which owns 6.3% of Taseko’s shares, according to independent proxy adviser Glass Lewis.
Raging River is urging shareholders to remove incumbent directors, whom they allege are conflicted, because they are or were also key shareholders in other associated companies, including one that Taseko ended up acquiring.
But in an independent analysis, Glass Lewis recommends against Raging River’s proposals to replace incumbent directors with some of their own, concluding that “we believe the company successfully deflects many of the more specious concerns levied by RRC, an entity which, based on publicly available information, appears to be both hastily formed and opportunistic.”
Glass Lewis points out that Raging River failed to disclose that, in addition to the 6.3% equity stake in Taseko, it also holds Taseko bonds – about $16 million worth –which means its position in the company is greater than it publicly disclosed.
Glass Lewis said Raging River was “decidedly lax in disclosing this prospectively conflicted financial interest.”
Another independent proxy adviser, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., has likewise come out against the Raging River proposal, according to a Taseko news release.
One group of shareholders, Vertex One Asset Management Group, which owns 4.55% of Taseko’s outstanding shares, originally supported Raging River’s proposals, but has since changed its mind.
It issued a press release Wednesday stating it no longer supports Raging River’s proposal.
A special shareholders meeting will be held Tuesday in North Vancouver. The deadline for proxy votes is tomorrow at 10 a.m.
Taseko owns and operates the Gibralter copper-molybdenum mine in the Cariboo region.
The company has suffered a 95% erosion of market cap in the last five years, according to Glass Lewis. That erosion is partly attributable to its failure to move forward on its New Prosperity mine. The mine project was rejected twice by federal regulators and has been vigorously opposed by the Tsilhqot’in First Nation.
