By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com
ExxonMobil is suing two activist investor teams in a Texas district courtroom, aiming to dam their local weather proposals from going to a vote on the annual shareholder assembly later this 12 months within the first such direct criticism to courtroom as a substitute of to the SEC.
Exxon filed late on Sunday a lawsuit on the U.S. District Courtroom for the Northern District of Texas towards U.S. activist investor Arjuna Capital and shareholder activist group Comply with This. These two buyers have filed a proposal for Exxon’s shareholders to vote on the annual normal assembly on Might 29 to have Exxon decide to additional emissions reductions, together with Scope 3 – emissions from the product it sells.
Exxon is in search of for the primary time a judgment from the courtroom to exclude a proposal for an upcoming shareholders’ vote. Beforehand, the supermajor, and different publicly traded companies, have sought SEC recommendation on the deserves of proposals to be included within the proxy assertion for the shareholders assembly.
Arguing its case within the Texas district courtroom, Exxon says that “Defendants are asking Exxon Mobil to alter its day-to-day enterprise by altering the combo of—and even eliminating—sure of the merchandise that it sells,” as carried in The Wall Street Journal.
The objective of Arjuna Capital and Comply with That is “to pressure Exxon Mobil to alter the character of its atypical enterprise or to exit of enterprise solely,” the supermajor says.
Exxon additionally argues that the 2 activist buyers have “turn into shareholders solely to marketing campaign for change by means of shareholder proposals which might be calculated to decrease the corporate’s current enterprise.”
These buyers “are aided of their efforts by a flawed shareholder proposal and proxy voting course of that doesn’t serve buyers’ pursuits and has turn into ripe for abuse.”
Exxon additionally says within the criticism that underneath SEC guidelines, a agency can exclude a proposal from shareholder vote whether it is principally the identical as earlier proposals of the previous 5 years and doesn’t meet the standards to be resubmitted.
Final 12 months, a proposal to ascertain a Scope 3 emissions goal and cut back hydrocarbon gross sales was rejected by Exxon’s shareholders with 89.5% votes towards and 10.5% votes in favor. The edge for resubmitting the proposal is 15% of votes in favor.
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