TSX- and NYSE-listed Hudbay Minerals has communicated to its shareholders the positive momentum behind the company’s proxy campaign, as waged against the company by Waterton Global Resource Management.
On April 17, Hudbay’s largest shareholder, with 13.4% of shares, confirmed its intention to vote in support of Hudbay’s ten director nominees, while independent analysts also indicated support of Hubday’s slate of director nominees.
The independent analysts warned against the disruption that Waterton’s director nominees could bring to the board and management team and, therefore, Hubday encouraged shareholders to vote their green proxy support for Hudbay’s director nominees.
“The [Hudbay] proxy and the accompanying 51-page presentation present a detailed, and in our view, comprehensive, counter-argument to Waterton's white paper that was published in mid-February.
“We had previously noted that we found Waterton's white paper less than compelling, given its lack of a differentiated strategy for Hudbay. However, in our view, Hudbay has addressed a number of the most significant issues that were originally raised by Waterton. We believe that Hudbay continues to have a strong runway of upcoming catalysts,” noted one of the independent analysts, TD Securities.
The proxy voting deadline is May 3.
The letter that Hudbay mailed to its shareholders on April 26 warned shareholders that Waterton director nominees Peter Kukielski, Richard Nesbitt and Daniel Muñiz Quintanilla had records that could result in significant disruption to the company’s positive momentum and risk the future value of shareholders’ investment in Hudbay.
The ten director nominees from Hudbay include a new Hudbay nominee, Richard Howes, and Waterton nominee David Smith.
Assuming Hudbay’s slate of director nominees is elected, this would result in 20% of the board being refreshed this year, with six of ten directors having joined the board in the last five years.
In light of Michael Anglin’s withdrawal, following the annual and special meeting of shareholders, Hudbay intends to immediately initiate a process to identify an independent and qualified individual who could join the board as an eleventh director.