Crescent Weighing SEIU Proposal

FORT WORTH-The Service Employees International Union has won shareholders’ approval to declassify the board of trust managers for Fort Worth-based Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. as part of a nationwide strategy that targets corporate governance. The catch is the action isn’t binding.

The Washington, DC-based SEIU is a longtime owner of 140 shares of Crescent stock. Steve Abrecht, director of SEIU’s Capital Stewardship Program, tells GlobeSt.com that the mission isn’t to get a seat on the board, but rather to gain annual elections instead of staggered three-year terms for trust managers. The SEIU proposal passed at this week’s shareholders’ meeting in Dallas along with the re-election of trust managers Richard E. Rainwater, chairman of the board; Anthony M. Frank, chairman of Belvedere Capital Partners; and William F. Quinn, president of AMR Investment Services Inc.

John Goff, Crescent’s vice chairman and CEO, said in a prepared statement, “We appreciate SEIU’s interest in our company; Crescent takes all matters affecting corporate governance very seriously. The board of trust managers has considered this issue in the past and our shareholders can be assured that it will be given full consideration in the future.”