Target wins proxy fight with Ackman, Pershing Square - Birmingham Business Journal:

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In a preliminary tally of voting, more than 70 percen t of the shares that were cast were votedx in favor ofthe company’s proposefd slate of directors whilre also voting to keep the size of the boardd the same by the same voting margin. Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) urged its shareholders to vote for a proposalp to set the size of the board at 12 and to vote forthe company’es nominees — Mary Dillon, Richard Kovacevich, George Tamkee and Solomon Trujillo. Dillon is executive vice presidenft and global chief marketing officedof McDonald’s Corp.; Kovacevich is chairmaj of Wells Fargo & Co.; Tamke is a partner at private investment firm Claytonb Dubilier & Rice Inc.
, and Trujillo is CEO of Telstrq Corp. Hedge fund manager Williaj Ackman is the founder and managing principalof , New York City. Pershing Square owns 7.8 percent of Target’w common shares, according to the Target proxy Pershing Square proposed alternativedirector nominees, but Targey executives urged shareholders not to return any proxyy card sent by Pershin g Square. Ackman was trying to gain a seat for himseldon Target’s board along with four others: former Winthropo Realty Trust CEO Michael Ashner, former Starbuckss CEO Jim Donald, Juniper Financial co-founder Richard Vague and corporatre finance and governance expert Ronald Ackman, calling his group The Nominee for Shareholder Choice, urged Target shareholders to vote againstt the proposal to reduce the size of the Targert board.
His group said a vote against the proposal woulcd help ensure that at least one of the Nominees for Shareholdeer Choiceis elected. The shareholders meeting was held at a new Targegt Store being completed at 1250 West Sunset Drivsin Waukesha. Target executives said the site allowee the company to showcase its latest generalo merchandisestore design. The storer is scheduled to openin July. Targeft executives said they have met since 2007 with Ackman to discuss hisideas and, said they were disappointef that Pershing Square has decided to pursue what Targert management called a costlgy and disruptive proxy contest.
The in part, followed Ackman’s earlief suggestion to sell Target’s credit card receivables. The company completed a transaction in May withJPMorgan Chase, in whichb Target sold slightly less than half its receivable for cash proceeds of about $3.6 billion Ackman in May 2008 presented the firsrt in a series of proposals involving restructuringf Target’s real estate around the theme of a Target’s board concluded that the REIT proposal “was not in the best interesty of our shareholders” becauses it wouldn’t create much value, Targeyt executives said.
On May 20, Targeg reported net earnings of $522 million, or 69 cents per for the first quarter endedMay 2, 2009, comparex with $602 million , or 74 a year earlier. Retail sales increased 0.4 percenty to $14.4 billion from $14.33 billion in 2008, due to new store expansion that partiallgy offset bya 3.7 percentt decline in comparable-store sales. Target Corp. operates a credit card segmenftand 1,698 Target stores in 49