ConMed (NSDQ:CNMD) said last week that it’s delaying its annual shareholders meeting amid a 3-way proxy war that turned nasty last month.
Utica, N.Y.-based ConMed acknowledged March 14 a slate of nominees for its board put up by Voce Capital Management and said it would delay the annual meeting, originally slated for the end of May. The medical device company said it hasn’t picked a new date yet but plans to hold the meeting before July 31.
The Voce slate – Analogic (NSDQ:ALOG) president & CEO James Green, Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) veteran Alan Kaganov of U.S. Venture Partners, Accuray (NSDQ:ARAY) president & CEO Joshua Levine, former Precision Dermatology and Ascension Orthopedics CEO Jeffrey Nugent and Voce managing partner Daniel Plants – faces a competing roster backed by Coppersmith Capital Management.
ConMed struck a deal with Coppersmith last month that unseated ConMed founder Eugene Corasanti’s chairmanship and added Coppersmith managing partner Jerome Lande and former Stryker (NYSE:SYK) CFO Curtis Hartman as directors, effective March 1. Things got ugly when Voce (which assailed ConMed late last year) reiterated accusations against Hartman originally aired in the war for control of diagnostics giant Alere (ALR).
Citing an Alere proxy statement filed in August 2013, Voce alleged that Stryker settled "multiple" sexual harassment allegations made against Hartman during his time in Kalamazoo, Mich.
ConMed said it will issue its own, formal recommendations for the board "in due course," according to a press release.