Time to hang some chads

Pending a so far sadly belated invitation to be King of the World, or similar, NakedShorts is a great believer in democracy. Except when it comes to voting his stock...except when it comes to MF Global Ltd, which holds its annual meeting next Monday in the friendly confines of the Elbow Beach Resort, Bermuda.  Three lucky directors drew the ‘Vote Withheld’ straw.

Chief executive Kevin Davis, for reasons blindingly obvious to any sentient mortal.

Bob Sloan, managing partner of S3, “a company which he founded that provides treasury and liability management services to hedge funds,” a director since Sep. 2007. Sloan has so far declined to reach into his amply endowed pockets to purchase shares, and further confirmed his faith in the company’s prospects by taking just 25 per cent of his $250,000 annual fee in stock, preferring the $187,500 balance in something more negotiable. (No other director took less stock, as a percentage of total compensation, than Sloan, according to the proxy statement.).

Martin Glynn, the former chief executive officer of HSBC USA, who was elected to the board last month but has not so far felt it necessary to join the stockholder Shippe of Foolles (although whatever impulses he may have in that direction are perhaps constrained by the company’s Fiscal 2009 Q1 ending Jun. 30).

His tenure was a huge success. It ran from 2003-2006, coinciding precisely with HSBC’s calamitous Household International Inc acquisition (the deal closed in Mar. 2003) through the disclosure, in Dec. 2006, that the shape of things had gone mostly pear-ish.  HSBC’s announcement was among the first pieces of solid evidence that the credit bandwagon’s wheels were starting to wobble.

Glynn stepped down...cough, COUGH...that month, presumably losing the $177,600 rent allowance and $150,000 tax gross-up that earned a mention in Michelle Leder’s Footnoted.

Hmmm...come to think of it, he’ll fit right in.

Disclosure: NakedShorts Falling Anvil portfolio remains long MF. (Bangs head on table)

Part of the problem?
by Michelle Leder
Footnoted Mar. 5 2007

Earlier: Kevin Davis Memorial Chart du Jour
NakedShorts Jul. 21 2008