CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Activist institutional investor California Public Employees’ Retirement System is calling on fellow Sonic Automotive Inc. shareholders to throw chairman and founder Bruton Smith and six other directors off the board over diversity issues.
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They account for seven of the 10 members of the board of directors. CalPERS, in a recent filing with the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission, asks that shareholders vote against each board member as they stand for reelection next week.
“As a long-term shareowner of the company, we believe these seven board members have demonstrated a lack of responsiveness to multiple CalPERS shareowner engagement requests to address board composition related to diversity,” the filing says.
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