Pension funds urge Molson Coors to revise stock structure
By Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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On the eve of the Molson Coors annual meeting in Denver today, two big public pension funds with a $55 million stake in the beer maker called on Molson Coors to scrap its unequal voting-rights structure.
The Florida Board of Administration and California Teachers Retirement System urged Molson Coors Chairman Eric Molson in a letter to begin a recapitalization plan that would establish a single class of common stock.
The letter contends that holders of Molson Coors Class B stock "provide more than 95 percent of the equity capital the company relies on" but have very limited voting rights.
By contrast, the letter says, the Class A stock owned by the Molson and Coors families represents less than 5 percent of the equity capital but entitles them to elect almost all of the directors.
The two funds say the situation limits investors' "ability to exercise responsible ownership related to important governance matters."
They add that the pending joint venture merging the U.S. operations of Molson Coors and SABMiller offers a ripe opportunity for Molson Coors to revamp its shareholder structure to create one class of stock.
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