A major Brazilian mining corporation announced Thursday that its largest investor has formally requested a shareholder vote to oust the company’s current chairman from his position.
Vale, which ranks among the globe’s biggest iron ore mining operations, disclosed that pension fund Previ has called for a shareholders’ meeting to vote on removing Chairman Daniel Andre Stieler from leadership.
The pension fund, which handles retirement benefits for workers at the government-owned bank Banco do Brasil, has put forward Jose Mauricio Coelho for a board position while endorsing existing board member Manuel Oliveira to take over as chairman, the mining firm revealed in regulatory documents.
Vale reported that Previ believes Oliveira would help with “the strengthening of governance practices, the improvement of strategic management and the alignment with the interests of shareholders and stakeholders.”
The mining corporation has not made public the actual document it received from the pension fund. Previ did not respond immediately to requests for comment when contacted after normal business hours.
Company officials stated that Vale’s board is currently reviewing what procedures are needed to organize the requested shareholder meeting.
Regulatory filings show that Previ controls approximately 7% of Vale’s shares. The pension fund recently changed its own leadership, installing Marcio Antonio Chiumento as chief executive after Joao Luiz Fukunaga stepped down from the role.
Chiumento became a member of Vale’s board of directors earlier this year.
