FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2000
For more information, contact:
Patrick Riley
1-800-457-7694
MISSOURI COMPANY FACING CONTENTIOUS SHAREHOLDERS' MEETING
Washington, D.C. - Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), the
largest independent proxy voting firm, released its proxy
analysis supporting dissident shareholders on two issues on the
agenda for the shareholders' meeting of Paul Mueller Company
(NASDAQ:MUEL) in Springfield, Missouri. The meeting is scheduled
for May 1, 2000 at the company's premises. ISS is recommending
the opposition candidate, Joseph N. (Nick) Bacino, in the
company's board of directors election and recommends passage of a
proposal ending the company's poison pill.
The Sheet Metal Workers Local Union No. 208, a shareholder
and a union representing about 390 employees of the Paul Mueller
Company, is backing an election challenge to the company's board
of directors. The Sheet Metal Workers' International Association
in Washington, D.C. has sent letters to all shareholders urging
them to support the election of Mr. Bacino, who until late 1998
was the chairman of Young Sales Corporation in St. Louis and in
charge of St. Louis Blow Pipe, Young's Metal Group.
P. Oppenheimer Investment Partnership, L.P. has advised it
will vote in favor of Mr. Bacino and the proposal ending the
poison pill. It has held more than 23,000 shares of Mueller
stock for more than four years.
Poison pills (labeled by management as "shareholder rights
plans") typically take the form of rights or warrants issued to
shareholders triggered only by an acquisition attempt. ISS
writes, "Poison pills can insulate management from the threat of
a change in control. They provide a target's board with veto
power over takeover bids that may be in shareholders' best
interests. Furthermore, poison pills amount to major de facto
shifts of voting rights away from shareholders on matters
pertaining to a sale of the company."
The union's proxy statement is available at www.sec.gov.
The proxy analysis of ISS is available from the union's contact
person above.
