GAMCO Investors Becomes First to Use Proxy Access in the U.S.
On November 10, 2016, Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, Inc. disclosed its intention to nominate a director to the board of National Fuel Gas Company pursuant to the company’s proxy access bylaw, seemingly making GAMCO the first investor to exercise proxy access in the United States. In its Schedule 13D and 14N filings, GAMCO, which holds approximately 7.8% of National Fuel Gas Company’s outstanding shares, announced that it was seeking to nominate to the board Lance A. Bakrow, “the co-founder and a director of Greenwich Energy Solutions, a private company that provides independent energy solutions in the northeastern United States.”