CIM Commercial Trust Faces Calls for Board Changes
January 18, 2021 | S&P Global Market Intelligence
A pair of CIM Commercial Trust activist investors called for a board overhaul at the office real estate investment trust, expecting that a new board would “engage in an open and transparent strategic review exploring all options” for the company.
Lionbridge Capital LP and Robotti & Co. Advisors LLC, which collectively hold a roughly 5.0% stake in CIM Commercial, in a letter sent to the REIT’s board, criticized the company’s “lack of scale, excessive cost structure and unjustified reliance on its external adviser, CIM Group.”
The shareholders argued, among other things, that the REIT’s “structural flaws are compounded by longstanding conflicts of interest between CIM Group and the [company’s] 79% majority independent shareholders.”
Lionbridge and Robotti nominated a slate of six candidates for election to the REIT’s board at its 2021 annual meeting: Thomas Ferguson, Mark Gelnaw, Raymond Marino II, John Moran, Gregory Morillo and James O’Leary.
The REIT did not respond to S&P Global Market Intelligence’s request for comment on the matter as of press time.
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence
