In his preliminary proxy statement, Williams has told the Securities and Exchange Commission he will be asking stockholders at their May annual meeting to vote for former Gov. Roy E. Barnes; George R. Puskar, former CEO of Equitable Real Estate and now part of Atlanta-based Lend Lease Real Estate Investments; Paul J. Dolinoy, SVP, Lend Lease Real Estate Investments; Thomas J. A. Lavin, head, mortgage investment group, MetLife; and Jansen Noyes III, member, board of trustees, Cornell University.
Williams says he also is not opposed to one of Post's nominees, L. Barry Teague. Arthur M. Blank, a Post director since 1994 and considered a close friend of Williams, previously announced he will resign at the annual meeting, as GlobeSt.com reported. Blank's term expires in 2004.
Williams is confident he can throw out Post's existing board because he is the company's largest shareholder with 2.87 million shares or about 7.3% of the outstanding shares. Puskar owns 3,000 shares of Post stock. Williams' other nominees do not own stock in the company.
As he begins lining up his proxy votes, Williams also announced he is dropping his week-old lawsuit against Post Properties and the directors who voted to oust him from his existing position as chairman emeritus and cancel his $150,000-a-year retainer.
Robert C. Goddard III, Post's recently elected chairman, is equally confident he can vanquish Williams' attempt to regain control of a company that owns 30,078 apartment units in 80 communities, including 1,377 units under development.
"We intend to oppose Mr. Williams' nominees aggressively and to re-elect the current [11-member] board," Goddard says in a prepared statement. "We believe that the best interests of our shareholders can best be realized by the re-election of the current board and by allowing management the opportunity to move forward with our business plan."
In his own statement, Williams says, "The accelerating deterioration of the company's performance and competitiveness shows the current board's and management's inability to effectively address the serious business issues facing the company." Williams says "the incumbent board has been unwilling to take actions that I believe are needed to enhance value for all shareholders and improve operational performance."
If successful, Williams says his first move would be to replace David Stockert as president and CEO. Stockert was promoted July 1, 2002 after Williams gave up the post, following his heart surgery in fall 2001.
Atlanta brokers and developers intimate with Post's internal crisis tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity that Williams privately blames Stockert for many of the financial challenges facing the company today. Williams, Stockert and Goddard couldn't be reached by GlobeSt.com's publication deadline.
Post directors forced Williams out of the company in February of this year, although his employment contract doesn't expire until 2013. Williams sued the company and its directors March 24 to save his $150,000-a-year stipend and his informal position as chairman emeritus.
Post Properties common stock was trading Tuesday morning at $25.10 per share, up 20 cents from April 7 but near its 52-week low of $22.40. The company plans to release its 1Q earnings May 5 and hold its quarterly conference call May 6.
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