Sun Capital Says Its Nominees Have the Votes to Join FBI Board

May 1, 2008  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on May 2008 Sun Capital announced Thursday that its slate of nominees for Furniture Brands International’s (FBI) board of directors—Alan Schwartz, Ira Kaplan and T. Scott King--have been elected to FBI’s board by “a substantial margin.”

Sun Capital, which waged a proxy battle with Furniture Brands International leading into yesterday’s annual shareholders meeting, based its announcement on an estimate by its proxy solicitor, D.F. King, at the close of the polls.

“The election of Sun Capital’s nominees is a victory for all Furniture Brands shareholders,” said Sun Capital Vice President Jason Bernzweig in the announcement. “Today’s results demonstrate shareholders’ desire for constructive change at Furniture Brands, and we are gratified by their support for our nominees. Our nominees look forward to working with the other Furniture Brands board members, management and the company’s talented employees to enhance performance and create long-term value for the benefit of all shareholders.”

Furniture Brands International said in its own announcement that because of the contested nature of this year’s annual meeting, a final reconciliation of the election will require authentication by an independent inspector of elections. The annual meeting of stockholders will reconvene on May 20, and the final results of the stockholder voting will be announced at that time.