Up to 30 per cent of the company’s shareholders may vote against the chairman’s reappointment, according to pension funds pushing for governance reforms.

Five US state pension funds are campaigning for Safeway shareholders to withdraw their support for Burd and put pressure on the chairman to step down, because he combines the roles of chairman, chief executive and president.

The pension funds’ executives are also displeased with the poor company performance, board-level conflicts of interests and the lack of independent directors. The campaign by the public pension funds has the support from two advisory services that are also advising their clients to withhold their support for Burd.

The US retailer has recently attempted to prevent the shareholder uprising by appointing an independent director, Paul Hazen, as well committing to replacing three board members with independent directors by the end of the year, after consultations with its largest shareholders, who will ultimately determine Burd’s fate.

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