Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc., one of the largest employers in the lower Hudson Valley, will battle shareholder activists on eight proposals at this year”™s annual meeting, according to its proxy filed last week.
Wyeth, which employs more than 3,000 people at its Pearl River plant, is holding its annual meeting April 26 in Morristown, N.J.
The company”™s status as one of the vital economic anchors of Rockland County is not likely to get an airing. Instead, employees and investors will have ample time to compare Chief Executive Officer Robert Essner”™s $32.8 million in compensation in 2006 ”“ not including $4.2 million more he realized through the exercise of stock options ”“ with the company”™s performance that year. Wyeth shares appreciated 12 percent last year, but have failed to keep pace with other companies in the S&P 500.
Such is the muckraking during the season of annual meetings, which is on the horizon for April and May as corporate proxies pour daily into the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Besides the usual kvetching over executive compensation, shareholders nationally are agitating for companies to streamline the proxy proposal process by substituting Web-based voting systems for the cumbersome paper ballot process used today.
In a speech earlier this month, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox said the SEC will likely change its rules for next year”™s proxy season to reflect those wishes.
State policymakers increasingly are seeking influence as well. Last year, Connecticut state Treasurer Denise Nappier generated headlines after signaling the state”™s $23 billion retirement trust would oppose compensation-committee board member slates at nine large companies, including Wyeth”™s fellow pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc., which has a large research facility in Groton, Conn.
The vast majority of corporate annual meetings are far more staid affairs, even for controversial companies such as utilities. Provident Bank adjourned its Feb. 15 annual meeting in Suffern after rubber-stamping its slate of directors and audit firm selection, with no shareholder proposals on the docket.
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Even management of relatively controversial companies like utilities, who are accustomed to being routinely harangued in meetings with customers, can emerge unscathed from annual meetings.
Poughkeepsie”™s CH Energy Group Inc. has no shareholder proposals on the docket for this year”™s annual meeting; Chairman and CEO Steven Lant took the podium last year to espouse his company”™s various energy and employment initiatives.
For drama, one will require a plane ticket to Knoxville, Tenn., where IBM Corp. is holding its annual meeting far from its Hudson Valley base.
IBM”™s board is fighting five shareholder proposals this year, including reverting to previous pension benefits IBM changed in 1995 and 1999, and studying the impact on IBM”™s brand as a result of contracting work to “offshore” companies.
For those who can”™t get to Knoxville, one share of Wyeth stock ($50 at last check) and a tank of gas will get you a seat at the company”™s annual meeting in Morristown, N.J.
Wyeth CEO Essner might not mind trading places with Lant for a day, given the ticklish topics shareholders will bring to the table. Proposals include:
? Wyeth”™s animal welfare policy;
? Limiting the supply of prescription drugs in Canada;
? The disclosure of political contributions;
? Recouping incentive bonuses;
? The overall topic of executive compensation; and
? Stripping the CEO of the chairman role.
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