NEW YORK (Reuters) - Buffalo Wild Wings Inc BWLD.O shareholders voted to elect three director nominees of Marcato Capital Management, giving the activist investor the board access it desired in its nearly year-long pursuit of strategy and leadership changes at the U.S. wings and beer chain.
Buffalo Wild Wings shareholders voted to elect Marcato nominees Mick McGuire, the hedge fund’s founder, former Pizza Hut CEO Scott Bergren, and restaurant industry veteran Sam Rovit, the company said in a statement on Friday.
Marcato’s fourth nominee, restaurant industry veteran Lee Sanders, was not voted onto the board.
Buffalo Wild Wings’ management team had nine directors up for election, three of whom Marcato targeted to replace: Cynthia Davis, Olivier Maggard and Jerry Rose. Rovits was also on the company’s nominee slate.
The results came just after the company’s CEO Sally Smith announced that she would step down before the end of the year, and withdraw her candidacy for board election.
Reporting by Michael Flaherty; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
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