EQT Corp. has scheduled its highly anticipated annual shareholder meeting for July 10, in a rebuke to brothers Toby and Derek Rice who are poised to mount a proxy battle.
The Downtown-based oil and gas firm has been under pressure by the Rice brothers and certain other shareholders to hold its meeting in April, as it has traditionally done with the exception of last year.
The Rice brothers, backed by at least one hedge fund, are vying to unseat EQT’s management and replace its board of directors, saying they could do a better job running the company. Derek and Toby Rice are two thirds of the trio that founded Canonsburg-based Rice Energy Inc. which they sold to EQT in 2017 for $6.7 billion. Danny Rice, the other third, is currently serving on EQT’s board.
In a statement accompanying its announcement, EQT said its board of directors wanted to give shareholders “ample time to decide on any nominations or proposals and make an informed voting decision.”
“To date, the company has not received any director nominations or other proposals,” the statement added.
The Rice team so far has declined to say who it will recommend to replace the current board.
EQT has been through a number of major shifts in the past several months, including installing a new CEO, CFO, general counsel, executive vice president in charge of production and a new head of investor relations, the company noted.
The July meeting date is intended to give the new team, and four new independent directors, time to show what they can do, the statement said.
The Rice team promptly issued its own statement, saying “we are disappointed with EQT’s decision to delay its annual meeting to July, which prevents shareholders from expressing their views in a timely fashion on our plan and denies investors the benefits of that plan being implemented as soon as possible.”
Anya Litvak: alitvak@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1455.
First Published: February 28, 2019, 1:09 a.m.