The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is recommending that Level 3 Communications Inc. investors vote for a proposal that would make it easier for them to remove company directors.
Calpers, the largest U.S. public pension fund, told Level 3 investors in a letter that it wants to eliminate the so-called supermajority currently required to fire board members. Calpers holds 5.6 million Level 3 shares.
“In our view these limited rights and supermajority vote requirements are excessive and can serve to unduly insulate directors,” the letter said.
The change will improve governance and shareholder value at Broomfield-based Level 3 after the stock plunged 94 percent in the past seven years, Calpers said. The company has never posted a profit since going public nearly a decade ago. The company’s annual shareholders’ meeting is scheduled for May 24.
Shares of Level 3, a long-distance phone and data network operator, fell 6 cents to $5.54 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading on Monday. They’re down 1.1 percent this year.
