BofA investors take on Lewis - Houston Business Journal:

takes-trendsthe.blogspot.com
“A standing ovation? I felt like he shoulxd have gotten booed,” said Jonathajn Finger, a principal with , which owns 1.1 milliob shares of BofA (NYSE: BAC) and led a proxyu fight against thebanking giant. Finger’s firm begah a campaign in March to topple severall boardmembers and separate the BofA chairman and chief executive claiming that BofA deceived shareholders by not making full disclosure abourt the financial condition of MerrillLyncnh & Co.
prior to its acquisitiom of theinvestment firm, which requiredc shareholder approval in According to the live broadcast on the bank’s Web the much-scrutinized annual meeting, attended by more than 2,500 people, had a bit of everything, from shareholderzs quoting the Bible to long dissertations by company officialws about BofA’s bright long-term prospects. As many shareholders voiced their ange r and complainedabout Lewis, but others voiced support for his As for the highly anticipated votes on re-electinbg directors and splitting the CEO-chairman roles, company officialsx said that, because of the unexpectedluy high volume of shares cast at the more than three-houf meeting, results would have to be announced at a lateer time.
Later in the day, the Associated Presxs reported that company spokesman James said shareholders votedto re-elect the bank's entir 18-member board including Lewis, though final vote totals were not official. Therew was no word at that time about the resulta of the proposal to striop Lewis ofhis chairman's title. Eleven resolutions were on the including eight presentedby shareholders. “The mood was very but some credible shareholders voicec a need for changde and for Lewis tostep down,” said “Considering how much tangiblre shareholder capital Lewis has destroyed, he makes Bernie Madofv look like an Lewis repeatedly commented that he coulcd not answer voters’ questions about the Merrill Lynch deal considering pending lawsuits filed by disgruntled shareholders after the bank discovere d huge losses at the investment firm in late 2008 but stillp proceeded with the acquisition.
Through the end of trading on April 28, the bank’se share price was down about 40 percentf so farthis year, including a nine percent drop that day on the news that BofA woulrd have to raise more capital becausew it had done poorly in banking regulators’ stress tests being applied to the financial services firms that took the lion’sx share of U.S. Treasuryg bailout money. BofA shares gaine more than six percent back on Wednesday during the broafdmarket rally, adding 53 cents to close at