Shareholder Meeting

Like politicians ending a bitter campaign, the activists and company officials who have bloodied each other in a proxy fight for influence over Charming Shoppes Inc. will meet today for the corporate equivalent of election night - the shareholder meeting. Hanging in the balance as final votes are cast at the 10 a.m. meeting at the Bensalem headquarters of the company, whose operations include the Lane Bryant and Fashion Bug chains, will be the fate of chief executive officer and board chairwoman Dorrit J. Bern.

Norfolk Southern Corp. yesterday sought an injunction in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia to block Conrail Inc. from postponing its scheduled Dec. 23 shareholders meeting. At the meeting, Conrail shareholders will be asked to vote on whether to opt out of a provision of the Pennsylvania anti-takeover law. If they vote in the affirmative, that would, effectively, clear the way for the Philadelphia freight rail company to merge with CSX Corp., of Richmond. Conrail has said that if it does not get enough votes to clear the merger at the meeting, it may postpone the vote, or hold another one. In its motion, Norfolk Southern, which has launched a hostile bid for Conrail, accused Conrail and CSX of "subverting the processes of corporate democracy.

Shareholders at Continental Airlines Inc. and UAL Corp. approve a deal to form the world's biggest airline. Continental officials announced preliminary results of voting during a shareholder meeting Friday in Houston. United shareholders approved it at a meeting near Chicago. The votes clear the way for the $3 billion stock swap to close in about two weeks. It likely will be some time before passengers notice much difference when they fly Continental or United. The combined airline will be called United and based in United's hometown of Chicago, run by Continental's CEO.

The New York investment group that is pursuing a hostile takeover of Pennwalt Corp. yesterday flatly rejected the company's offer to open its confidential books. A spokesman for the group, Centaur Partners, said the proposed confidentiality offer had been turned down because it contained an unreasonable request to cease action on its tender offer. Centaur has been asking to peek at the top-secret books since June, when it began to amass stock in the giant Philadelphia chemical company.

Comcast Corp. has no plans to sell its majority ownership stakes in the Sixers and Flyers because of the weak economy, chief executive officer Brian L. Roberts said in response to a question at the cable company's annual shareholder meeting yesterday morning. He noted that the company has about $31 billion in debt, which it can pay off over 15 years. Comcast welcomed new leadership at the Federal Communications Commission, Roberts said, adding that he believed the company would have a dialogue with government officials about product bundling and the evolution of technology.

When most teen-agers say all they want is to be heard, they're referring to their parents. But when 17-year-old Samuel Yake of Paoli talks about being heard, he's referring to corporate executives and board members. Yake is a budding gadfly. As a gadfly, he is a member of a select army of company stockholders who pester captains of commerce and industry to be more concerned with the rights and interests of shareowners. "Management reigns supreme," said the Conestoga High School senior.

When Meridian Bancorp shareholders go to their annual meeting later this month, something will be missing. The free lunch. For 35 years, the company has been serving up chicken a la king, cold cuts, and a beverage to any of its 26,700 shareowners who cared to attend the annual blowout at the Rajah Theater in Reading. Last year, 1,325 lunches were served, at a cost of $7 each. The Reading-based bank is shelving the tradition because, spokeswoman Doris Piasecki says, it wants to go modern and big city, shave expenses, conserve employee time for the affair and change the meeting time and location.

NovaCare Employee Services Inc. of Norristown yesterday announced it had reached agreement to be acquired by a private investment group. The investment group - which consists of Patricof & Co. Ventures Inc., Fidelity Ventures Limited, and AFLAC Inc. - offered to pay $75.7 million to acquire nearly 30.3 million NovaCare Employee outstanding shares for $2.50 each. The investors plan to operate NovaCare Employee as a private company, renamed NovaSource Inc., that is expected to remain in Norristown.

Management at First Penn Bank yesterday defeated a challenge by dissident shareholders who want the Center City bank sold to the highest bidder. First Penn officials also said they had complied with federal regulators' demands to improve the bank's financial and operating practices. First Penn "is not ripe" for a sale, chairman Vincent J. Fumo told shareholders at the annual meeting of First Penn's parent, PSB Bancorp Inc. Fumo, better known as South Philadelphia's influential Democratic state senator, spoke after shareholders voted by more than 2 to 1 not to seek a buyer for the bank, which traces its roots to a savings association founded by his grandfather.

A major shareholder in Arrow International Inc. said yesterday that it would support a proposed $2 billion buyout by Teleflex Inc. of Limerick, according to a regulatory filing. The Robert L. McNeil Jr. 1983 Trust, which previously had opposed a sale of the company, which manufactures medical devices, said it supported the $45.50-per-share cash offer. It made no recommendation to other shareholders on how to vote on the deal. Arrow, which is based in Reading, said yesterday that it had scheduled a shareholder meeting to vote on the deal for Sept.

About a dozen tea party activists from the Philadelphia area gathered outside the Kimmel Center on Wednesday - site of Comcast Corp.'s annual shareholders' meeting - to protest the company's ownership of the liberal-leaning MSNBC 24-hour cable news channel. Inside the meeting, shareholders peppered Comcast chief executive officer Brian Roberts about the company's decision to ban local gun-shop advertisements. There were also complaints about the Rev. Al Sharpton, host of PoliticsNation on MSNBC.

Sunoco Inc., the oil company whose headquarters have been located in Philadelphia for more than a century, will hold its final shareholders meeting on Oct. 4 in ... Michigan. In a proxy statement mailed to shareholders on Wednesday, Sunoco has scheduled a meeting at the Detroit Athletic Club to vote on its proposed acquisition by Energy Transfer Partners L.P., a pipeline company based in Dallas. After the $5.3 billion merger, Sunoco's retail business and its pipeline business will remain headquartered in the Philadelphia area, reporting to ETP's head office in Texas.

About 50 demonstrators disrupted Comcast Corp.'s annual shareholders meeting Thursday, chanting, "We are the 99 percent," and protesting what they contended was Comcast's use of tax loopholes and its membership in the Washington group American Legislative Exchange Council. The protest was organized by Fight for Philly, a left-leaning community group. After saying their piece, the demonstrators left. Other speakers at the 90-minute session at the Convention Center said Comcast was engaged in anti-union labor practices in Chicago and criticized MSNBC's prime-time talk-show hosts, with one shareholder calling them "hate mongers and smear merchants.

Protesters crashed Aetna Inc.'s annual shareholders meeting in Philadelphia on Friday morning, accusing the Connecticut-based health insurer of publicly supporting President Obama's health-care plan while privately funneling money to its opponents - in particular, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Aetna chairman Mark T. Bertolini had just gone to the microphone at Le Meridien Philadelphia, a Center City hotel, when the protesters walked into the meeting, chanting and carrying signs. Hotel security and police hurried out the group of about 20, detaining three for 30 minutes.

Many shareholders never bother to attend an annual shareholders meeting, and usually they're not missing much. There are few fireworks. The little interaction that occurs between management and the audience is strictly managed, and often the meeting is over in a matter of minutes. This will be the second year in which companies can opt to hold a virtual annual shareholders meeting rather than the more familiar terrestrial one. But the live webcast version isn't exactly supplanting the traditional event held in hotel conference rooms everywhere.

Three public companies will hold annual shareholders meetings in the Philadelphia area during this holiday-shortened week. The biggest to do so will be UGI Corp. , of King of Prussia, which will summon shareholders to the Desmond Hotel & Conference Center in Malvern on Thursday at 10 a.m. Lon R. Greenberg , 60, has been chief executive officer of the propane and natural gas provider since 1995. After his first full year running UGI, the company had revenues of $1.6 billion.

Shareholders at Continental Airlines Inc. and UAL Corp. approve a deal to form the world's biggest airline. Continental officials announced preliminary results of voting during a shareholder meeting Friday in Houston. United shareholders approved it at a meeting near Chicago. The votes clear the way for the $3 billion stock swap to close in about two weeks. It likely will be some time before passengers notice much difference when they fly Continental or United. The combined airline will be called United and based in United's hometown of Chicago, run by Continental's CEO.

Comcast Corp. has no plans to sell its majority ownership stakes in the Sixers and Flyers because of the weak economy, chief executive officer Brian L. Roberts said in response to a question at the cable company's annual shareholder meeting yesterday morning. He noted that the company has about $31 billion in debt, which it can pay off over 15 years. Comcast welcomed new leadership at the Federal Communications Commission, Roberts said, adding that he believed the company would have a dialogue with government officials about product bundling and the evolution of technology.

Like politicians ending a bitter campaign, the activists and company officials who have bloodied each other in a proxy fight for influence over Charming Shoppes Inc. will meet today for the corporate equivalent of election night - the shareholder meeting. Hanging in the balance as final votes are cast at the 10 a.m. meeting at the Bensalem headquarters of the company, whose operations include the Lane Bryant and Fashion Bug chains, will be the fate of chief executive officer and board chairwoman Dorrit J. Bern.