LONDON (Reuters) - One of Britain's biggest pension scheme investors has called on Dutch paintmaker Akzo Nobel (AS:AKZO) to engage with U.S. suitor PPG Industries (N:PPG) over a revised bid and criticised the board's handling of the issue.
The Universities Superannuation Scheme, which manages around 57 billion pounds on behalf of 375,000 savers, said a revised $29 billion bid for Akzo from PPG was enough for "meaningful and constructive" dialogue to begin "in earnest".
After rejecting two previous bids, Akzo has yet to respond to the third. At the firm's annual meeting on Tuesday, it refused a request from a group of shareholders to hold an extraordinary general meeting to discuss the bid.
Daniel Summerfield, Co-Head of Responsible Investment at USS, said the decision to refuse the EGM request "not only undermines the credibility of the board but portrays Dutch governance in a very negative light".
USS said in a statement that it had been a shareholder in Akzo Nobel since 2010 and currently held a 1.28 percent stake in Akzo, making it a top-10 investor according to Thomson Reuters data.