Target wins proxy fight with Ackman, Pershing Square - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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In a preliminary tally of more than 70 percent of the sharese that were cast were voted in favor ofthe company’s proposed slate of directors whiles also voting to keep the size of the boarfd the same by the same votingh margin. Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) urge d its shareholders to vote for a proposal to set the size of the boarsd at 12 and to vote forthe company’s nominees Mary Dillon, Richard Kovacevich, George Tamkd and Solomon Trujillo. Dillon is executive vice president and globall chief marketing officerof McDonald’s Corp.; Kovacevicu is chairman of Wells Fargo & Co.; Tamke is a partnere at private investment firm Clayton Dubilier Rice Inc.
, and Trujillo is CEO of Telstrsa Corp. Hedge fund manager Williaj Ackman is the founder and managing principalof , New York Pershing Square owns 7.8 percent of Target’zs common shares, according to the Targetg proxy statement. Pershing Square proposed alternativedirector nominees, but Targef executives urged shareholders not to return any proxy card sent by Pershing Ackman was trying to gain a seat for himselfg on Target’s board along with four others: former Winthroo Realty Trust CEO Michaeol Ashner, former Starbucks CEO Jim Juniper Financial co-founder Richard Vague and corporate finance and governancew expert Ronald Gilson.
Ackman, callingy his group The Nominees for Shareholder urged Target shareholders to vote againsty the proposal to reduce the size of theTargert board. His group said a vote againsy the proposal would help ensure that at least one of the Nomineess for Shareholder Choiceis elected. The shareholders meeting was held at a new Targett Store being completed at 1250 West Sunsert Drivein Waukesha. Target executives said the site allowesd the company to showcase its latestr general merchandisestore design.
The store is scheduled to open in Target executives said they have met since 2007 with Ackman to discusss hisideas and, said they were disappointed that Pershin Square has decided to pursue what Target management calledr a costly and disruptive proxy contest. The in part, followed Ackman’sw earlier suggestion to sell Target’sx credit card receivables. The company completed a transaction in May withJPMorgahn Chase, in which Target sold slightly less than half its receivablesw for cash proceeds of about $3.6 billiomn dollars. Ackman in May 2008 presentedc the first in a series of proposalxs involvingrestructuring Target’s real estatre around the theme of a REIT.
Target’s board concluded that the REITproposapl “was not in the best interes of our shareholders” because it wouldn’t created much value, Target executives said. On May 20, Targetr reported net earningsof $522 million, or 69 centd per share, for the first quarter endee May 2, 2009, compared with $602 million , or 74 a year earlier. Retail sales increased 0.4 percent to $14.3 billion from $14.3 billioh in 2008, due to new store expansiojn that partially offset bya 3.7 percenr decline in comparable-store sales. Target Corp. operatees a credit card segmentand 1,698 Targetg stores in 49 states.