Barington nominates Mitarotonda and two others as administrators at Matthews

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Activist investor Barington Capital Administration nominated its founder, James Mitarotonda, and two different executives with public board expertise as director candidates at casket maker Matthews Worldwide (NASDAQ:MATW).

Along with Mitarotonda, Barington nominated Ana Amicarella, who at the moment serves on the boards of Ahead Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) and Warrior Met Coal (NYSE:HCC), and funding trade veteran Chan Galbato, who runs Cerberus Operations and Advisory Firm and served on the board of grocer Albertsons (NYSE:ACI) till just lately, Barington mentioned.

“The Matthews board and administration crew are dedicated to serving in one of the best pursuits of all our shareholders,” the corporate mentioned.

Barington owns about 2% of the excellent inventory of Matthews, which makes merchandise for cemeteries, funeral properties and crematories. It desires the corporate to interchange Chief Govt Joseph Bartolacci, who has been operating the corporate for practically twenty years, the hedge fund mentioned final week.

It additionally desires Matthews to contemplate divesting its SGK Model Options phase, comply with via with its assessment for its Warehouse Automation and Product Identification companies and discover a companion for its Power Storage (dry cell lithium-ion battery) manufacturing enterprise.

Three Matthews administrators who sit on the 11-member board are anticipated to face for reelection on the firm’s annual assembly early subsequent 12 months. Barington additionally desires the corporate to make sure that all administrators stand for election yearly and plans to submit a proposal to declassify the board.

Matthews mentioned final week that its enterprise outlook is robust. It beforehand introduced it had employed JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and was exploring strategic alternate options. That information pushed the inventory worth up greater than 20%. “Because the analysis of strategic alternate options underscores, we are going to proceed to take actions which are in one of the best pursuits of driving long-term worth creation for all our shareholders,” the corporate additionally mentioned.

Since January, the corporate’s shares have misplaced practically 25% to shut at $27.77 on Wednesday.