CalPERS Pushes For Executive Payment, Voting Changes At 3 Companies

The California Public Employees' Retirement System said it is pushing for governance changes at three companies it is invested in, chiefly focusing on executive compensation, supermajority and plurality voting requirements.

It said it supports a proposal for Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s (CHK) June 8 annual meeting that would remove a 67% supermajority voting requirement to amend or adopt new bylaws for the natural-gas producer.

At New York Community Bancorp Inc. (NYB), CalPERS is seeking to remove a plurality vote standard in favor of a majority vote standard at the banking company's June 7 annual meeting.

For Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR), CalPERS will push for shareholder approval of future severance agreements during the drilling contractor's June 5 meeting. Nabors was criticized recently for disclosing a $100 million severance-style deal for its departing chief executive, Eugene Isenberg, who later agreed to waive his rights to the payment. The payment would have been one of the largest executive paydays in recent years.

 
   -By Ben Fox Rubin, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3108; [e-mail]