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Large Brink's stakeholder plows ahead: Hedge fund seeking to split up local firm could unseat CEO with four choices for its board(Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Dec. 1--An investment firm seeking a breakup of The Brink's Co. is offering a slate of nominees for election to the company's board of directors. New York-based hedge fund MMI Investments LP announced four nominations yesterday, saying in a statement that its choices for the board would "fill major gaps in the experience and skill set of the current directors." Brink's, based in Henrico County, owns armored-car and home-security companies. It has a 12-member board of directors. Four of those seats, including one held by Chairman, President and CEO Michael T. Dan, are up for election at the 2008 shareholders' meeting. "We have received notice from [MMI] that they intend to nominate these four individuals for election to the board," Brink's spokesman Edward A. Cunningham said yesterday. "We'll consider the nominations in due course." MMI Investments and another major Brink's stockholder, Pirate Capital LLC, have pushed for strategic changes for the company, including a tax-free spinoff of the armored-car or home-security business. Splitting the company into two businesses would allow for combined value of $79 a share, MMI estimated in July. Brink's shares closed yesterday at $63.98, up $2.27, or 3.7 percent, on the New York Stock Exchange. Brink's announced this week that it has hired a consulting firm to examine strategic options for its business. MMI's nominees include John S. Dyson, chairman of its parent company, Millbrook Capital Management Inc.; and Peter A. Michel, the former chief executive officer of The Brink's Co.'s home-security monitoring subsidiary. Michel is president, chief executive officer and director of iSecuretrac Corp., a producer of electronic monitoring products. In a statement yesterday, MMI Investments said it holds 8.4 percent of the company's outstanding shares. The firm said it is not seeking control of the Brink's board. "We simply believe that the board as currently composed has demonstrated that it lacks the security industry perspective, strategic alternatives acumen and stockholder representation necessary to protect and maximize the value of Brink's stockholders' investment," said Clay Lifflander, MMI's portfolio manager. "MMI recognizes that election of our slate means the removal of Michael Dan from the board," Lifflander said. "If we are successful, MMI would support expansion of the board by one seat and Michael Dan's reappointment." The Brink's Co. has more than 50,000 employees, including 100 in the Richmond area. MMI's other nominees are Robert J. Strang, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, and Carroll R. Wetzel Jr., a former mergers and acquisitions banker at Chase Manhattan Bank. In addition to Dan, members of the board whose terms expire in 2008 are Marc C. Breslawsky, retired chairman and CEO of Imagistics International Inc.; John S. Brinzo, chairman of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc; and Lawrence J. Mosner, retired chairman and CEO of Deluxe Corp. Contact John Reid Blackwell at (804) 775-8123 or [email protected]. To see more of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesdispatch.com. Copyright (c) 2007, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |