Shamrock Fund Wants Board Seats at Cement Company

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Roy Disney’s Shamrock Activist Value Fund L.P. said Monday it plans to nominate three candidates for election to the board of Dallas cement giant Texas Industries Inc., a company Shamrock believes could be better run.

Shamrock Activist, which is managed by the Disney family’s Shamrock Capital Advisors Inc., controls 8.9 percent of Texas Industries, which operates a large cement facility in Riverside County.

In a letter to the company, Shamrock Capital Advisors Inc. managing director Dennis A. Johnson said the fund intends to nominate himself; Marjorie L. Bowen, a former managing director of Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin; and Gary L. Pechota, chief executive of DT-Trak Consulting Inc. and former chief executive of Giant Cement Holding Inc. The company’s annual meeting is October 22.

“Texas Industries has a well documented record of underperformance versus its peers in terms of both profitability and share price which we believe is the result of poor management and inefficient capital allocation,” Johnson wrote.

Johnson added that the current board of directors has in place restrictive corporate governance policies — including poison pills, staggered board terms and supermajority requirements — that limit the influence of activist shareholders.

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