{"id":753103,"date":"2023-05-01T09:57:14","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T13:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marketnewsdesk.com\/index.php\/hestia-capital-highlights-recent-support-from-two-leading-independent-proxy-advisory-firms-2\/"},"modified":"2023-05-01T09:57:14","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T13:57:14","slug":"hestia-capital-highlights-recent-support-from-two-leading-independent-proxy-advisory-firms-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marketnewsdesk.com\/index.php\/hestia-capital-highlights-recent-support-from-two-leading-independent-proxy-advisory-firms-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hestia Capital Highlights Recent Support from Two Leading Independent Proxy Advisory Firms"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hestia Capital Highlights Recent Support from Two Leading Independent Proxy Advisory Firms<\/b><\/p>\n

ISS and Glass Lewis Endorsed Hestia\u2019s Case for Meaningful Boardroom Change at Pitney Bowes and Underscored the Need to Reduce Interlocks That Insulate the Management from Accountability Following Prolonged Value Destruction<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

PITTSBURGH–(BUSINESS WIRE<\/a>)–
\nHestia Capital Management, LLC (collectively with its affiliates, \u201cHestia\u201d or \u201cwe\u201d), which is the third largest stockholder of Pitney Bowes, Inc. (NYSE: PBI) (\u201cPitney Bowes\u201d or the \u201cCompany\u201d), today commented on Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (\u201cISS\u201d) and Glass, Lewis & Co.\u2019s (\u201cGlass Lewis\u201d) recommendations that Pitney Bowes\u2019 stockholders support meaningful boardroom change at the Company\u2019s 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the \u201cAnnual Meeting\u201d). As a reminder, Hestia has nominated five highly qualified and independent director candidates: Milena Alberti-Perez, Todd Everett, Katie May, Lance Rosenzweig and Kurt Wolf to Pitney Bowes\u2019 nine-member Board of Directors (the \u201cBoard\u201d).<\/p>\n

\nKurt Wolf, the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Hestia, commented:<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe appreciate that ISS and Glass Lewis have endorsed our case for meaningful boardroom change and recommended stockholders vote for Hestia-nominated director candidates. Our five-member slate is incredibly excited about the opportunity to fix Pitney Bowes\u2019 addressable issues and implement a plan to spur a value-enhancing turnaround for stockholders, employees, partners and customers. It has been a long decade of broken promises, large losses and limited accountability for a Chief Executive Officer who has filled the boardroom with allies and received more than $66 million in compensation for sustained failure. Fortunately, the Company\u2019s core segments \u2014 SendTech and Presort \u2014 are exceptional businesses that can power a lasting turnaround once they are prioritized and no longer neglected at the expense of the perpetually mismanaged Global Ecommerce segment. Our slate believes Pitney Bowes will become a much more sustainable business once the Global Ecommerce segment stops hindering the Company\u2019s credit profile, earnings and free cash flow. As S&P Global Ratings recently put it, \u201c[t]he path to sustainable growth and EBITDA generation from the GEC segment\u2014critical in our view to the long-term health of Pitney Bowes\u2014remains muddled and once again delayed.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\nFollowing the Annual Meeting, if elected, our slate intends to put this contest behind us and start working closely with the remaining directors to ensure a seamless transition and facilitate a pivot in strategy. Our slate has identified significant room for improvement based on the Company\u2019s eight-year-old strategy driving negative total stockholder returns of roughly 80% and numerous credit downgrades. Our slate will benefit from certain incumbent directors\u2019 knowledge, just as we believe they will benefit from having new perspectives and no interlocks in the boardroom. We look forward to continuing to engage with fellow stockholders to achieve our goal of helping Pitney Bowes enhance its corporate governance, improve its capital structure and credit profile, and optimize the Company\u2019s core segments and Global Ecommerce unit.<\/p>\n

\nAs a reminder, ISS recommended<\/a> stockholders vote for four Hestia nominees: Milena Alberti-Perez, Todd Everett, Katie May and Kurt Wolf. It noted the following in its report:1<\/sup><\/p>\n