UPDATE 2-Investor group to vote against Murdochs at News Corp AGM
* HEOS says will also withhold support from Siskind and
KnightBy Sinead CruiseLONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch’s multi-million
dollar campaign to win back the hearts and minds of News
Corporation’s independent investors suffered a new blow
on Friday after another key shareholder group called for his
eviction from its board.Hermes Equity Ownership Services (HEOS), the shareholder
advisory service affiliated to Britain’s largest pension fund,
issued a rallying cry to investors to vote against all Murdoch
family re-elections to the board of the embattled media group at
next week’s annual general meeting on Oct. 21.”The time is right for the company to appoint an independent
chairman to rebuild trust, help correct the governance discount,
and ensure that the interests of all investors are properly
represented,” Jennifer Walmsley, Director of Hermes Equity
Ownership Services, said.”We have a battle on our hands to demonstrate the strength
of shareholder opposition because so many shares are held by the
family or by people affiliated with the family,” she told
Reuters.The organisation, which votes on behalf of the BT Pension
Fund and more than 20 other institutional clients running $140
billion of assets, has also called for an independent
investigation into the phone hacking scandal that led to the
closure of top-selling British tabloid The News of the World.Besides seeking the removal of Murdoch and sons James and
Lachlan, HEOS — whose members hold 0.5 percent of News Corp’s
shares — Hermes is also withholding support for the re-election
of directors Arthur Siskind and Andrew Knight, citing concerns
for their independence.The statement from HEOS is the latest in a flurry of
anti-Murdoch lobbying from corporate governance watchdogs and
proxy voting companies all over the world.Earlier this week, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc.
(ISS) said Murdoch and 10 other News Corp directors should be
ousted from board in the wake of the phone hacking scandal,
which it said “laid bare a striking lack of stewardship and
independence”.The ISS statement prompted News Corp, which has bought back
more than $1 billion of its stock since August, to step up its
appeal for shareholder support with a letter that reiterated its
strong financial performance in the face of the flagging global
economy.But Walmsley said investors were growing impatient for
fundamental change that would see the infamous ‘Murdoch
discount’ gone for good.News Corp shares typically trade below rival media groups
because the market applies a discount to reflect Murdoch’s tight
control of the company and a tendency to make decisions that
shareholders may not support.”There’s an enormous groundswell of opposition and I think
there are a lot of investors out there who feel … the
governance structures in place are clearly not sufficient to
safeguard the interests of minority investors,” Walmsley said.”There is a huge problem with shareholder democracy at News
Corp — it breaches what we see as a fundamental shareholder
right of ‘one share, one vote’,” she said.The war of words between News Corp and its shareholders over
the need for a sweeping purge of its board is likely to revive a
debate over whether James Murdoch should be forced to give up
his role as chairman of British Sky Broadcasting .Investors in BSkyB — News Corp’s erstwhile bid target —
will vote on the make-up of their board next month.
