Hedge fund manager David Einhorn, who is battling Apple Inc in court as
part of a wider effort to get the iPhone-maker to share more of its cash
pile, will now make a direct appeal to the company's shareholders.
He
will host a conference call on Thursday to argue the merits of
distributing perpetual preferred stock his favored way of rewarding
shareholders.
Einhorn's $8 billion Greenlight Capital is seeking
an injunction to block a February 27 shareholders' vote on "Proposal 2"
in Apple's proxy statement, which would abolish a system for issuing
preferred stock at its discretion.
Apple declined to comment on
Einhorn's plan to appeal directly to shareholders. Chief Executive Tim
Cook last week dismissed the lawsuit as a "silly sideshow".
But
Cook said the idea of issuing preferred stock was creative and one that
Apple's board was carefully considering, while it ponders other ways to
share its $137 billion in cash and securities something Wall Street
investors have been seeking for years.
But even as the hedge fund
star tries to rally Apple shareholders to his cause, the Nathan Cummings
Foundation, which says it has been a limited partner of Greenlight's
through its endowment, said it was "dismayed" that Einhorn was suing
Apple to prevent a vote on Proposal 2.
"We very much oppose your
decision to enjoin the 2013 annual meeting and the vote on Resolution
#2," Simon Greer, president and CEO of the foundation, said in a letter
to Einhorn that was obtained by Reuters.
In response, Greenlight said in a statement "This is a former investor who redeemed. We wish them well."
Greer
however said later in an emailed statement that the foundation remained
an investor with Greenlight through a "pooled fund", without
elaborating.
© Thomson Reuters 2013