Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill this week conceded to shareholder demands for a greater say in nominating directors to serve on the company’s board.
Chipotle will allow a shareholder or a group of up to 20 owners owning 3 percent or more of the company’s shares for three or more years to submit up to two nominees for election to the board of directors, according to a Tuesday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Those nominees would still have to compete with the company’s slate on the proxy, but the changes line up with a shareholder proposal that won a majority of votes at the in May.
That outside proposal was advisory, meaning Chipotle could have ignored it, but it handily beat a competing measure from the company to set the ownership threshold for access to the proxy at 8 percent. The outside measure was backed by Ctw Investment Group, an adviser on $250 billion in union retirement plants, and New York City’s comptroller.
Investors concerned about the company’s , which at one point cut the value of Chipotle share in half, also tried to vote out three directors from the board, but failed in that effort.
