Shareholders thwart CA takeover plan

Intense campaigning reaps rewards for directors

The board of directors at Computer Associates (CA) breathed a collective sigh of relief last week after shareholders voted to keep all of them at the helm.

At the culmination of a two-month proxy battle, following Texan billionaire Sam Wyly's attempt to take over CA, all 10 directors, including chief executive and president Sanjay Kumar and chairman Charles Wang, defeated their Wyly-nominated challengers.

The final vote came after weeks of intense campaigning by both sides, which included bombarding shareholders with letters urging support [CRN, 13 August].

Wyly had accused CA of not caring enough about its partners, customers and employees.

Hayley Tabor, CA's general manager for Europe, said that the result was not a "big surprise" after the firm's largest shareholder, Walter Haefner, pledged support for CA [CRN, 27 June].

"We had Mr Haefner's support very early on and our other shareholders have been equally supportive of the management team," she said.

"It has given us an opportunity to communicate our direction to clients and partners," Tabor added.

"Our focus is to further improve client and partner relationships and grow our presence in the European market."

Kumar echoed those sentiments, saying the company intended to "continue this level of communication with key constituents."

Analysts had predicted the outcome of the vote weeks ago. James Governor, at research firm Illuminata, had said the result would help "turn CA into the approachable and open company that has been promised so often" [CRN, 25 July].