Reuters | Glass Lewis recommended investors vote against Exxon’s lead independent director Joseph Hooley, citing concerns about what the proxy adviser called the energy company’s “unusual and aggressive tactics” in pursuing a lawsuit against activist investors.
[…]Exxon, which is frequently the focus of critical shareholder resolutions, struck back earlier this year when it filed a lawsuit seeking to block a vote on a climate proposal submitted by two small activist investors.
The lawsuit sidestepped the usual regulatory process to fend off similar measures. The investors withdrew their resolution, but Exxon continued the lawsuit, seeking legal costs and other relief.
[…]“The Company’s unusual and aggressive tactics in this matter could threaten to deter both investors’ willingness to submit and ability to vote on materially relevant issues,” Glass Lewis wrote. It opposes Hooley, Glass Lewis said, in order “to strongly signal dissatisfaction with the Company’s recent approach to omitting shareholder proposals.”
