Choice Hotels International nominated eight people Monday to stand for election at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ upcoming annual shareholder meeting, the latest move in Choice’s hostile takeover attempts of the Parsippany, New Jersey-based hotel brand company.
Choice nominated Barbara Bennett, founder and principal executive of Bennett West LLC; Emanuel Pearlman, chair and CEO of Liberation Investment Group; Fiona Dias, digital commerce consultant; James Nelson, CEO of Global Net Lease; Jay Shah, executive chair of the board of trustees of Hersha Hospitality Trust; Nana Mensah, founder, chair and CEO of ‘XPORTS Inc.; Susan Schnabel, founder and co-managing partner of aPriori Capital Partners; and William Grounds, principal of Burraneer Capital Advisors.
“With this slate of independent, highly qualified candidates for election to the Wyndham Board, Wyndham shareholders will have an opportunity to be represented by a board that will fulfill its fiduciary duty to act in the shareholders’ best interests and consider any and all paths to create value,” Choice President and CEO Pat Pacious said in the release. “Unfortunately, the current Wyndham Board continues to refuse to engage in meaningful negotiations regarding a combination with Choice that would create extraordinary value. By supporting these nominees and participating in our exchange offer, Wyndham shareholders can send a clear message to the Wyndham Board.”
Wyndham’s Board of Directors responded to Choice’s nominations later on Monday in a statement, once again pushing back against Choice’s acquisition aspirations and calling on shareholders to not tender their shares.
“This action is yet another attempt by Choice to advance its inadequate and risk-laden hostile exchange offer, which the Wyndham Board unanimously determined is not in the best interests of shareholders,” the Wyndham board said. “Choice’s proxy contest is a blatant scheme to mislead shareholders into packing the Wyndham Board with nominees handpicked to push through their offer.”
Choice officially made its takeover attempts of Wyndham hostile on Dec. 12, when the company announced an exchange offer of $90 per share for all outstanding shares of Wyndham. Stephen Holmes, chairman of Wyndham’s board, said the offer was “inadequate and undervalues Wyndham’s superior, stand-alone growth prospects.”