Exclusive: Impactive Capital may run proxy fight at WEX, seeking 4 of 11 directors, source says
NEW YORK, May 22 (Reuters) - Activist investor Impactive Capital is gearing up for a boardroom fight at financial technology company WEX Inc (WEX.N), opens new tab, and may nominate at least four directors at next year's annual meeting, according to a person familiar with the matter and a document seen by Reuters.
The share price of WEX has slid 30% in the last 52 weeks.
Impactive, which owns roughly 7% of the company and has been a shareholder for four years, is ratcheting up pressure on the payments company only days after its May 15 annual meeting.
WEX, whose services include payment processing and information management for vehicle fleets, employee benefits, business payments, and travel payments, has a market value of roughly $4.5 billion.
Frustration has been simmering for years as Impactive privately pressed WEX to simplify its business and create greater alignment between the company and its shareholders but feels its requests have been dismissed, the source said.
The source was not permitted to discuss the hedge fund's private plans.
Specifically Impactive has urged WEX to consider spinning off its benefits segment and has suggested adding a investor to the 11-member board of directors. Late last year, Impactive asked to join the board but has so far not been invited on, the person said.
A representative for the company was not immediately available for comment.
Despite its strong market positioning, attractive assets and competitive advantages, WEX has underperformed and lagged behind peers, including Corpay (CPAY.N), opens new tab, Impactive said earlier this month in a public letter to shareholders.
In an effort to exert pressure, Impactive said on May 2 that it would vote against three directors, including the company's chair, Melissa Smith, and lead director, Jack VanWoerkom, at the May 15 meeting.
While all three were re-elected, shareholders' significant votes "against" the directors signal concern.
Impactive has only run one proxy fight during its seven-year lifetime and said publicly at conferences that it prefers to engage with companies and management privately to fix problems.
Two years ago Impactive settled a proxy fight with Envestnet when the financial technology company added three new directors, including Impactive co-founder Lauren Taylor Wolfe.
But Impactive is eyeing a potential second board challenge by taking on WEX because it worries the company and its advisors are ignoring shareholders' wishes, the source said. It is considering nominating at least four directors because of the board's size, the person said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
42 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Shop the Korean beauty app that brings skincare and makeup brands NEVER sold in the US to you at amazing prices
If you're always on the hunt for new Korean beauty products but wish you had just one convenient place where you could shop it all — and at the touch of your fingertips — we have found the most amazing thing. YLESS just made its US debut, and we couldn't be more excited. The app brings the best of indie K-beauty right to you, featuring over 1,000 products from 20 brands that have never even been sold in America until now. YLESS Bring the best of K-beauty right to your fingertips! YLESS makes it easy to streamline the experience with its clean, gorgeous app. Shop the best of the best right here, including top-tier makeup and skin care products all neatly laid out and simple to navigate. Everything comes to you from leading Korean beauty manufacturers with fresh formulas and wallet-friendly prices! FREE Download Here Browsing YLESS is a dream thanks to its clean interface and easy-to-navigate categories, which are broken down so you can easily find the K-beauty products you love Touting itself as a 'cosmetics paradise,' the app is jam-packed with gorgeous makeup and skin care at incredible prices — and using it to find your favorites is both fun and easy thanks to the clean, streamlined interface. YLESS makes it easy to navigate products you've never heard of and formulas that are completely new to you in the most approachable way. The company teams up with leading Korean beauty manufacturers to deliver these fresh finds to you. In other words, you can trust that what you order is brought to you by a trusted name in beauty. After you download (it's free!), you have the option to select a few of your favorite beauty essentials before diving in to shop. If you prefer, though, you can skip right to the good stuff and head straight to paradise. Here's where you'll find everything neatly laid out, from sunscreen and moisturizer to lip oil and highlighter. Conveniently, you can even browse by bestselling products in each category, simplifying things if you aren't sure where to begin or if you're totally new to K-beauty and want to find what everyone's loving. If you know exactly what types of products you love and want, though, YLESS makes it so easy to find them. Click around to browse items by category, or to view products strictly formulated for sensitive skin. All the beauty and all the values! YLESS delivers it all and makes it so easy to find new favorites via its sleek app that is new to America What you'll find is the best of the best. The 'Wink' lineup consists of super high-performance dupes of five-star favorites. The AVANJUNE Winter Camellia Serum, for example, is formulated to replicate the widely beloved Chanel Camellia Serum. The difference? It delivers the same impressive results in no time for a fraction of the price of the big name. Also notable is the 'First-Try' range, which is where adventurous types will find their pot of gold. If you aren't afraid to try something new, step outside of your comfort zone, and test the K-beauty waters, you are going to love what you find here! Among the highlights is BLAC3 Blood Drop Lip Oil, which is basically formulated to deliver that devilishly sexy, 'just bitten' red tint to your pout with zero effort. You literally can't find an easier (or more fun!) way to shop for new, exciting K-beauty products. It's as simple as downloading the YLESS app and adding to cart!
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
More partners leave Paul Weiss to join new law firm
June 9 (Reuters) - Two more partners have left law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison to join a new litigation firm launched late last month by Karen Dunn and others. With the additions of Melissa Zappala and Rush Atkinson in Washington, at least seven Paul Weiss partners have now joined the newly-formed Dunn Isaacson Rhee. Atkinson joined Paul Weiss in February 2024 after more than a decade at the U.S. Department of Justice. He was part of the DOJ team working under Robert Mueller, the former U.S. special counsel who investigated Russian contacts with Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Atkinson declined to comment on his move, as did the new firm. Zappala, who has worked at Paul Weiss since August 2020, had no immediate comment. The pair announced their moves on LinkedIn. A Paul Weiss spokesperson on Monday said the firm thanked Zappala and Atkinson for their contributions. Paul Weiss in March became the first of nine prominent firms that struck deals with the White House to avoid being targeted by President Donald Trump's administration. The firm has pledged $40 million in free legal work to mutually agreed causes with the administration in return for Trump rescinding an executive order that threatened the firm's access to government officials and its federal contracting work. Dunn, a prominent litigator and Washington Democrat, left Paul Weiss on May 23 to establish Dunn Isaacson Rhee along with Jeannie Rhee, Bill Isaacson and Jessica Phillips. Rhee was also a member of Mueller's team. They did not cite Paul Weiss' deal with Trump in an internal email announcing their departures that was viewed by Reuters. The new firm has also hired former Paul Weiss partner Kyle Smith and at least three Paul Weiss associates, according to their LinkedIn profiles. On Friday former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams left Paul Weiss to join Jenner & Block, a Chicago-founded law firm that sued the Trump administration to block a similar White House order and won a ruling last month permanently blocking it. Williams, who had joined Paul Weiss in January, will co-chair Jenner's litigation department and investigations practice. The head of the pro bono practice at Paul Weiss, Steven Banks, left the firm in April to focus on representing the Coalition for the Homeless with the Legal Aid Society.
Top Gear
an hour ago
- Top Gear
Connected cars could soon ‘talk' to each other
Future Tech No, not like nattering over the garden fence. Useful stuff about the road ahead Skip 1 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Verizon Business has created and successfully showcased a system where cars 'talk' to each other. Not just idle backyard chatter, but meaningful conversations between themselves and/or the road furniture, for safety and convenience. Say what? Welcome to vehicle-to-everything communication, people. Also more handily known as V2X, cars can use their sensors to pick up changes in the weather, the presence of other road users, or even unexpected roadworks, and then relay the info to other vehicles. Advertisement - Page continues below This vehicular heads-up is being brought to life by Verizon Business's Edge Transportation Exchange platform in the US – in conjunction with (deep breath) the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA), transport departments in Arizona and Delaware, the techy minds at VW Group of America, and some rather clever folk at Rutgers University's Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation. Lots of chefs in the kitchen for this one. The fancy V2X platform also enables cars to transmit signals to gantries and even pedestrians in near enough real time. VW Group America's chief engineer of Connected Infotainment Frank Weith reckons: 'Safety alerts and frictionless payments are two great examples enabled by mobile-network V2X.' You might like Ah yes, the other benefit: VW wants to make it so that you breeze through toll booths without faffing with cards or change. Meanwhile, the Rutgers team is focused on warnings for pedestrians and drivers at tricky intersections, like school crossings or congested junctions. 'Cars are evolving from mechanical vehicles to software-defined mobile devices with the ability to leverage incredible connected technology," says Shamik Basu, VP of Strategic Connectivity & IoT, Verizon Business. "Edge Transportation Exchange leverages that technology to give automakers, governments, and tech developers a robust platform for building out the cellular-connected future of transportation - with visibility and reliability for all road users top of mind.' Advertisement - Page continues below We're not sure how to feel about the car listening, learning, but not having to fish around for a debit card on the M6 toll sounds lovely. Any other uses you can think of? Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox.
