Impala joins bid to oust Teck CEO over ‘mess’

Impala Asset Management has become the second investor in a month to go public about efforts to pressure Canadian miner Teck Resources Ltd. into ousting its long-standing CEO.

The Connecticut firm, founded by industry veteran Bob Bishop, said it sent a letter to Teck’s board Feb. 28, excerpts of which it provided to Bloomberg.

The letter criticizes Teck’s chief executive, Don Lindsay, for what the firm calls destruction of shareholder value while saying he received one of the biggest paycheques in the industry.

In 2019, Lindsay’s total compensation was $9.2 million, including $1.64 million in salary.

Doug Brown, Teck’s director of public affairs, said Monday that Lindsay has shareholder backing and that the company’s shares are down largely because underlying commodity prices have fallen.

“At our recent annual meeting, shareholders voted 98 per cent in support of Don and the board, indicating the strong level of support of Teck’s shareholders for the company’s strategy,” Brown said by phone.

Impala’s letter alleges four projects — the 2008 acquisition of Fording Canadian Coal Trust, the Neptune terminal expansion in B.C., and two ventures in Alberta’s oilsands — have destroyed over $12 billion in value. Impala’s letter echoed many of the valuation concerns made public by Tribeca Investment Partners earlier this month.

Impala, a top-10 shareholder of Teck, faces entrenched ownership and management in its battle with Vancouver-based Teck, Canada’s biggest diversified mining company. The Keevil family controls Teck through dual-class shares.

In March, Bishop says he and another Impala representative met with Teck’s chairwoman, Sheila Murray, and vice chairman Norman Keevil III, to follow up on their letter but came away with little conviction things will change.

“These have been poor investment decisions by this CEO, approved by mostly this board, and we’re expecting the same people who got us into this mess to get us out of this mess.”