HomeUSAMcDonald's shareholders vote on Carl Icahn proxy fight over animal welfare

McDonald’s shareholders vote on Carl Icahn proxy fight over animal welfare

Signage exterior a McDonald’s Corp. quick meals restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., on Friday, Oct. 22, 2021.

Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures

McDonald’s shareholders assembly on Thursday morning will mark the climax of a proxy battle waged by activist investor Carl Icahn, who’s pushing for 2 seats on the fast-food large’s board amid a battle over its animal welfare practices.

Tallies of early votes present McDonald’s will probably triumph, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Shareholders can maintain voting till the assembly concludes, however individuals acquainted with the matter instructed the newspaper these ballots are unlikely to alter the outcome.

Icahn has publicly criticized McDonald’s for failing to fulfill its authentic deadline for eliminating gestation crates for pregnant pigs, a follow animal rights activists say is merciless. He has additionally argued that the corporate was alleged to ban the usage of crates fully however has since modified the scope of its dedication.

For its half, the Chicago-based firm has blamed the Covid-19 pandemic and African swine fever outbreaks for pushing again its authentic deadline of 2022 set a decade in the past. By the top of this yr, McDonald’s now expects 85% to 90% of its U.S. pork provide to return from pigs that are not stored in gestation crates in the event that they’re confirmed to be pregnant. McDonald’s has additionally mentioned that fully eliminating the usage of the crates would elevate its prices and end in clients paying extra.

In his push on the remedy of pigs, Icahn has additionally taken swipes at McDonald’s broader commitments to deal with environmental, social and company governance points.

“We imagine there’s a connection between animal welfare points and insufficient governance, and subsequently, different associated ESG dangers that the Firm will not be adequately attending to,” he wrote in his letter to fellow McDonald’s shareholders.

Icahn nominated Leslie Samuelrich, a sustainability-focused investor, and Maisie Ganzler, an government at Bon Appétit Administration, to switch current board members Sheila Penrose and Richard Lenny. In whole, McDonald’s has 12 seats on its board.

“Two seats on a big board like McDonald’s will not be big, however I feel it is the message that it could ship to others within the trade that they should do extra to ensure their board has illustration from specialists on this space, slightly than simply giving somebody a title that oversees ESG,” Barclays analyst Jeffrey Bernstein mentioned.

Due to McDonald’s dimension and the huge volumes of components it makes use of, adjustments to the corporate’s provide chain are inclined to have a ripple impact all through the trade. McDonald’s says its McRib sandwiches and the bacon for its burgers and breakfast sandwiches account for about 1% of U.S. pork provide.

Icahn is waging an analogous proxy battle at Kroger, the most important U.S. grocery store chain operator within the U.S. Kroger’s annual assembly is scheduled for June 23.

Securing votes

Icahn solely owns about 200 McDonald’s shares, a comparatively tiny stake that does not give him a lot sway in voting.

“200 shares is so far-off from having any affect on an organization,” mentioned Bruce Kogut, a professor of company governance and ethics at Columbia Enterprise Faculty. “My guess is that it is about publicity, and he now cares a few sustainable surroundings or ESG focusing on, and he is asserting himself as an activist in that area.”

In lobbying for extra votes, Icahn referred to as out massive Wall Road companies for “hypocrisy” and mentioned they’re capitalizing on ESG investing for the income with out supporting “tangible societal progress.” McDonald’s high three shareholders are The Vanguard Group, the asset administration arm of State Road, and BlackRock, based on FactSet.

Icahn has additionally fallen wanting profitable excessive two proxy advisory companies, Institutional Shareholder Providers and Glass Lewis, which make suggestions to 1000’s of funds on vote in shareholder conferences.

ISS solely supplied “cautionary help” to Icahn’s nominees, saying that shareholders ought to contemplate whether or not the present board is targeted sufficient on ESG points. However the agency famous the proxy battle is notable as a result of Icahn has targeted it on points akin to animal welfare, protein diversification and pay hole, slightly than operational points.

“It might be remembered as the primary true ‘ESG contest,'” ISS mentioned.

Glass Lewis, against this, suggested towards voting for the brand new board members. It mentioned that Icahn’s push to enhance animal welfare situations is a “worthy and noble,” however that it takes a “simplistic” view of the difficulty. And it famous the efforts do not give substantive regard to the corporate’s financials.

The Humane Society of the US has put forth a shareholder proposal echoing Icahn’s criticisms, asking the corporate to substantiate that it’s going to attain its earlier purpose of eliminating the confinement of gestating pigs by 2022. If the corporate cannot attain that focus on, it is requesting extra disclosure about its pork provide chain. Icahn has teamed up with the group up to now, and his daughter, Michelle Icahn Nevin, used to work with the group.

Such shareholder proposals are nonbinding however can ship a message to company boards about public help for firm practices. McDonald’s is dealing with six different shareholder proposals addressing points together with plastics use, antibiotics and lobbying actions.

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