Union Shareholder Asks for Resignation of Penford Corporation Director - Alleges Clayton Act Interlock Violation

Union Shareholder Asks for Resignation of Penford Corporation
Director - Alleges Clayton Act Interlock Violation 


WASHINGTON, Sept. 13  /PRNewswire/ -- The Food and Allied Service Trades
Department, AFL-CIO ("FAST") today released a letter to the Penford Corp.
(NASDAQ:PENX) Chairman Paul H. Hatfield requesting he "demand the immediate
resignation from the Board of Directors of John C. Hunter III."

FAST President Jeffrey Fiedler wrote to Hatfield stating: "We believe that Mr.
Hunter's also serving on the Board of Directors of Hercules, Inc. (NYSE:HPC), a
competitor of Penford, represents a violation of the Clayton Act.  This
interlock conflict is exacerbated by the fact that Hercules has been the
exclusive sales agent for National Starch and Chemical Company's papermaking
starches in the United States, Canada, and Europe since January, 2001. 
National Starch is yet another competitor of Penford Corp., whose flagship
industrial starch plant also produces an extensive array of products for the
papermaking industry."

Fiedler added that "Mr. Hunter is not a token director of either Penford or
Hercules.  He serves on the audit and executives committees of both companies. 
It is difficult in the extreme to imagine Mr. Hunter performing his fiduciary
duties to the shareholders of both companies simultaneously, even if he took
measures to recuse or insulate himself from action or information involving one
company or the other."

"Should Mr. Hunter fail to resign from the Penford Board in a timely manner,"
Fiedler said, "we would have no choice but to file a formal complaint with the
Federal Trade Commission, the agency empowered to enforce the Clayton Act."

Copies of the letter to Hatfield and additional documentary evidence to support
its call for Mr. Hunter's resignation can be found on the FAST website:
http://www.fastaflcio.org/ 

DATASOURCE: Food and Allied Service Trades Department, AFL-CIO



CONTACT:  Jeffrey Fiedler of the Food and Allied Service Trades

Department, AFL-CIO, [phone]



Web site:  http://fastaflcio.org/

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