Target wins proxy fight with Ackman, Pershing Square - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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In a preliminary tally of voting, more than 70 perceng of the shares that were cast were voted in favor ofthe company’s proposed slated of directors while also votingf to keep the size of the boarc the same by the same votinb margin. Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) urge its shareholders to vote for a proposal to set the size of the boarsd at 12 and to vote forthe company’s nominees Mary Dillon, Richard Kovacevich, George Tamkd and Solomon Trujillo. Dillon is executivw vice president and global chief marketing officerof McDonald’s Kovacevich is chairman of Wells Fargo Co.; Tamke is a partner at private investment firm Clayton Dubiliet & Rice Inc.
, and Trujillko is CEO of Telstra Corp. Hedge fund manageer William Ackman is the founder and managinfg principalof , New York City. Pershing Square owns 7.8 percenyt of Target’s common shares, accordinfg to the Target proxy statement. Pershing Squard proposed alternativedirector nominees, but Target executives urged shareholders not to return any proxyy card sent by Pershintg Square. Ackman was tryinyg to gain a seat for himselfon Target’ss board along with four others: former Winthrop Realty Trust CEO Michael Ashner, former Starbucksw CEO Jim Donald, Juniper Financial co-founder Richard Vaguew and corporate finance and governance expert Ronalde Gilson.
Ackman, calling his group The Nomineexs forShareholder Choice, urged Target shareholdersa to vote against the proposall to reduce the size of the Targetr board. His group said a vote against the proposapl would help ensure that at least one of the Nomineese for Shareholder Choiceis elected. The shareholders meetingh was held at a new Targetf Store being completed at 1250 West Sunset Drive in Target executives said the site allowed the companh to showcase its latesft general merchandisestore design.
The store is scheduled to open in Target executives said they have met since 2007 with Ackmajn to discuss hisideas and, said they were disappointerd that Pershing Square has decidedd to pursue what Target management called a costly and disruptive prox contest. The company, in followed Ackman’s earlier suggestion to sell Target’s credigt card receivables. The company completed a transactiohn in May with JPMorgan in which Target sold slightly less than half its receivables for cash proceedsw ofabout $3.6 billiobn dollars. Ackman in May 2008 presented the first in a series of proposals involvinfrestructuring Target’s real estate around the theme of a REIT.
Target’zs board concluded that the REITproposal “was not in the best interest of our because it wouldn’t create much value, Target executivesz said. On May 20, Target reported net earnings of $522 or 69 cents per for the first quarteer endedMay 2, 2009, comparedd with $602 million , or 74 cents, a year Retail sales increased 0.4 percent to $14.3 billion from $14.3 billion in 2008, due to new stor expansion that partially offset by a 3.7 perceny decline in comparable-store sales. Target Corp. operates a credi card segment and 1,698 Target stores in 49 states.