NEW YORK (Reuters) -Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis (JO:LEWJ) on Thursday recommended that Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) investors elect all four of activist investor Mantle Ridge’s board candidates.
Mantle Ridge is asking shareholders in the industrial gases company to elect its nominees, including the hedge fund’s founder Paul Hilal, to the nine-member board to help improve operations and ultimately find a new chief executive.
Glass Lewis wrote that Mantle Ridge “advanced a highly credible slate of candidates who appear well suited to the challenge at hand.”
The company said it “strongly disagree(s) with Glass Lewis’ sloppily compiled view,” noting that Mantle Ridge’s nominees would create a “destabilizing amount of change” while also removing “relevant expertise” from the board.