Curtiss-Wright settles proxy fight with investment firm Saddle Point

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

BOSTON (Reuters) - Curtiss-Wright Corp on Wednesday settled a week-old proxy fight with Saddle Point Management LP after the investment firm argued that the defense company lacked strategic focus and that some non-core industrial businesses should be divested.

The New York-based investment firm, which owns approximately 0.3% of the Davidson, North Carolina-headquartered maker of defense and intelligence programs, agreed to withdraw its four nominees to the board, Curtiss-Wright said in a statement.

Saddle Point's slate included national defense and financial industry experts.

Curtiss-Wright's chief executive officer, Lynn Bamford, said in the statement that the company is "open minded" about shareholders' ideas and will continue to look for directors who "bring to bear the critical skills and values in light of our business, financial profile and our portfolio's increasing focus on defense."

Saddle Point, which is run by former Pershing Square Capital Management partner Roy Katzovicz, has been engaging with Curtiss-Wright since 2020 and has urged the company to become a more pure play defense company.

In its proxy statement released last week, Curtiss-Wright, which is valued at $5.7 billion, said its portfolio "will continue to reflect an increasing percentage of defense, as evidenced by six of the last seven acquisitions ... as well as our recent divestitures of non-defense businesses."

The company also said that it adjusted the peer group that will help set pay decisions to include defense companies including Mercury Systems and BWX Technologies.

Katzovicz said in the statement that the settlement will let management "execute their mission-critical work without distraction."

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Will Dunham)

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