Third proxy advisory firm recommends Tecumseh Products shareholders reject Herrick proposal

By Angela McDaniels

Tacoma, Wash, Nov. 17 - Tecumseh Products Co. said Proxy Governance, Inc. recommends that company shareholders vote against the Herrick Foundation's proposal to remove two independent directors from Tecumseh's board at a special meeting on Nov. 21.

According to a Tecumseh news release, Proxy Governance said the company's board "has taken the clear-eyed but difficult action of removing from executive office those members of the founding family who were increasingly unable to deliver a coherent strategy and robust results."

Herrick Foundation president Todd Herrick was formerly chairman and chief executive officer of Tecumseh. He was removed by the board in 2007.

"The board has also develop[ed] a comprehensive strategy which undid many of the recent strategic missteps, restored a positive net cash position for the first time in five years, realigned the corporate structure to reflect and leverage its international scale and scope, and recruited a new management team to deliver its revived strategic plan over the next three years," Tecumseh quoted Proxy Governance in the release.

"By contrast, we note that the [Herricks'] only business strategies - disgorge cash and sell the company - reflect more a sense of risk avoidance than a balanced assessment of the company's prospects."

It was previously reported that Glass, Lewis & Co. and RiskMetrics Group/ISS also recommended that Tecumseh's shareholders reject Herrick Foundation's proposal.

Tecumseh was court ordered to hold the special meeting in response to a complaint filed in June by the Herrick Foundation, a company shareholder.

On the special meeting agenda will be Herrick Foundation's proposal seeking the removal of Peter Banks and David Risley from the company's board of directors as well as the election of their replacements, a prior Tecumseh news release said.

Tecumseh Products is a Tecumseh, Mich.-based manufacturer of hermetically sealed compressors.

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