Investor group pushes Exxon board for new leadership to challenge CEO

Investor group pushes Exxon board for new leadership to challenge CEO
Reuters
May 06, 2021 06:20PM ET

https://companies.einnews.com/article_detail/540469396/tCU9vd4D105U3bF7?n=2&code=2gsxKuStLVgC1rTk&utm_source=NewsletterNews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Exxon+Mobil+News&utm_content=article

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Jennifer Hiller

(Reuters) - An investor group on Thursday called on Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM)'s board to recruit directors and senior executives with energy and clean fuels experience, echoing calls at the center of an ongoing proxy fight.

The Coalition for a Responsible Exxon (CURE), which includes Seattle City Employees Retirement System, Dana Investment Advisors and Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, called on the oil company to tie executive pay more closely to financial performance and greenhouse gas reduction, according to a draft seen by Reuters.

Exxon shareholders on May 26 are set to vote on the biggest corporate battle to be decided on environmental, social and governance criteria. Pitted against Exxon is a tiny hedge fund, Engine No. 1, that has nominated four directors.

A spokesperson for CURE declined to say how many shares of Exxon its 135 members hold. Overall, the group represents $2.5 trillion in assets, it said.

CURE proposes broadening board and management experience, and splitting the Exxon chairman and chief executive roles. Current outside directors include only one member with energy industry experience and overall the board does not have the "confidence or expertise to challenge a powerful CEO/Chairman," it wrote.

The combined CEO/chairman benefits shareholders and executive pay is determined by a committee of non-employee directors and gear to provide long-term shareholder returns, Exxon spokesman Casey Norton said.

The group's report did not recommend votes for or against existing Exxon directors. Its members do plan to vote for new board leadership, the report said.

Citing what it said was the lack of an energy transition strategy, it called for new hires with experience "in the energy and climate sectors" that could direct investments toward "the energy transition and a decarbonizing global energy economy."

Comment! It's anonymous!

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Another win for Engine #1

Investor Legal & General backs activist in Exxon proxy battle
By Jennifer Hiller 3 hrs ago

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/investor-legal-26-general-backs-activist-in-exxon-proxy-battle/ar-BB1gBL6B?ocid=uxbndlbing

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest asset manager, Legal & General, on Tuesday said it will vote for an activist hedge fund's board slate at Exxon Mobil's shareholder meeting later this month, fueling a pitched fight over the oil major's future.

Top U.S. oil producer Exxon is battling hedge fund Engine No. 1 over four seats on its 12-member board and the direction of the company. The fund has criticized Exxon's poor returns, spending on fossil fuels and lack of clear plans for the energy transition.

Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) owns Exxon shares worth nearly $1 billion, according to Refinitiv data. It disclosed its voting plans in a blog on Tuesday. Exxon's annual shareholders meeting will be held on May 26.

LGIM also opposed the reelection to the board of Exxon's chief executive, Darren Woods, and lead independent director Kenneth Frazier, and backs the separation of the CEO and chairman roles, John Hoeppner, head of U.S. stewardship and sustainable investments at LGIM, said in an interview.

LGIM will vote for Engine No. 1's nominees - Gregory Goff, Anders Runevad, Kaisa Hietala and Alexander Karsner - he said. The Engine No. 1 slate also has support from large pension funds in California and New York.

"We think they have a good, complementary set of experiences that would be in the best interest of the long-term shareholders," Hoeppner said.

Exxon's current board is full of "incredibly accomplished CEOs" but lacks people who understand oil and gas and the energy transition, and who have overseen business transformation, Hoeppner said.

LGIM has "very rarely, if ever," spoken with Exxon's directors and has not found that its board offers "the same level of board-level buy-in that we see in other organizations," Hoeppner said.

LGIM last year voted against CEO Woods and in favor of an independent chairman. It has signed onto the Net Zero Asset Managers  Initiative, which vows to press portfolio companies to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner.

Exxon has not set 2050 net zero targets as European peers have done. To try to address investor concerns on climate, in recent months it has expanded its board, pledged to increase spending on lower-carbon initiatives and said it would lower the intensity of its oilfield greenhouse gas emissions.

(Reporting by Jennifer Hiller; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Someone is nervous in XOM if we are having to spend an additional $35 million in marketing to defeat the "tiny" Engine No. 1 White Card Proxy.

My, my the trolls is a 'cuttin and 'pastin like crazy tonite. Whew, they gotta be getting tired. Try just pasting the link, not the whole article. We don't want y'all giving out on us. We needs the trolls!

Oh now SEATTLE wants to run EM. Yes,, yes, let's listen to them. Maybe they will defund all salaries and benefits? Defunding has worked out so well for them in other areas. Maybe they can 'CURE" all EM's problems. Get it? Thanks for this incredibly interesting article! It really belongs here in the open.

SEATTLE!! SEATTLE!! SEATTLE!!

I voted my blue card. Engine 1 is not welcome here. Go away troll

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Investor group pushes Exxon board for new leadership to challenge CEO

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