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Proxy advisory firms urge Ventas investors to reject activist’s bid for board seat -Breaking

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO. Ventas, Inc., a trust that invests in real estate, displays its logo on the New York Stock Exchange floor (NYSE) on April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

BOSTON (Reuters] – Two proxy advisory firms, Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholders Services, urged healthcare trust investors. Ventas Inc (NYSE:) to back management’s director candidates and reject activist investment firm Land & Buildings’ effort to win one board seat.

Land & Buildings’ founder Jonathan Litt nominated himself as a director candidate, arguing that poor investor communications, capital allocation issues and a lack of board oversight led to significant underperformance at the company.

Ventas is worth $24 billion and the investment company owns 0.2% of it.

The proxy advisory firms, whose recommendations often guide investor voting to settle boardroom battles, backed all 11 of Ventas’s candidates saying they do not believe Land & Buildings made a compelling case to join the board.

Glass Lewis on Wednesday wrote that Land & Buildings’ concerns about Ventas’s stock performance are valid but that its concerns about capital allocation and governance “fall flat.”

Glass Lewis reported that the company had shifted its portfolio to areas where healthcare real property is most appealing and that its board was now more experienced, skilled, and able to see the bigger picture.

A representative for Land & Buildings declined to comment.

Ventas Annual Meeting will be the venue where investors vote.

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