266 0 Kommentare Glass Lewis Recommends Shareholders Vote for HomeStreet Nominees

HomeStreet, Inc. (Nasdaq: HMST) (the “Company” or “HomeStreet”), the parent company of HomeStreet Bank, today announced that Glass Lewis & Co. ("Glass Lewis"), a leading independent proxy voting advisory firm, has recommended that shareholders vote on the WHITE proxy card in support of the Company’s director nominees, Scott M. Boggs, Douglas I. Smith and Mark R. Patterson, and DO NOT VOTE on Roaring Blue Lion’s card. Glass Lewis also recommended shareholders vote FOR all three of the Company’s proposals (advisory vote on executive compensation, frequency of advisory vote on executive compensation and ratification of auditor).

Mark K. Mason, President and CEO of HomeStreet, said, “We are pleased that Glass Lewis recommended shareholders support HomeStreet’s highly-qualified nominees, Scott M. Boggs, Douglas I. Smith and Mark R. Patterson. Notably, Glass Lewis specifically highlights the qualifications of our directors, the merits of our strategic plan and the myriad ways in which the activist’s criticisms of HomeStreet are lacking. We look forward to continuing to make our case to shareholders in advance of the Annual Meeting.”

Commenting on their support for their current HomeStreet Board and discussing their qualifications, Glass Lewis noted that:¹

“Overall, we find that the Dissident has not presented HomeStreet investors with a sufficiently compelling case that against votes on Management Nominees Scott Boggs and Douglas Smith are warranted or in the best interests of all shareholders at this time.”
“In our opinion, the incumbent board has an appropriate mix of skills and experience and sufficient independence to oversee the Company for the benefit of all shareholders.”
“We do not believe there are substantial issues for shareholder concern as to any of the incumbent directors.”

Discussing the performance and strategy of HomeStreet as overseen by the current board, Glass Lewis stated that:

“We find that the incumbent board and management have communicated a clear and sensible strategy to shareholders and appear to be making reasonable progress executing this strategy.”
“(T)he Company has generated total shareholder returns that fall within an acceptable range relative to industry peers…”
“We believe differences in the Company’s performance and valuation relative to peers can be partially attributed to differences in business mix and to the Company’s relatively high exposure to the mortgage industry.”
“At this point, we believe it would be prudent for shareholders to provide further deference to the incumbent directors and management team in light of their track record overseeing a transformation of the Company in recent years. We recognize that HomeStreet’s commercial banking business is still developing and we believe pursuing the strategy advocated by the Dissident would be disruptive at this time.”