First Foundation in Dallas has reached an agreement with an activist investor to end litigation tied to director nominations.
The $13.6 billion-asset company said in a press release that a settlement agreement with Driver Management will allow the investor to nominate Allison Ball to run for a board seat at this year’s annual meeting.
The parties also agreed to a series of governance practices tied to the nomination of future nominees. It also ends litigation in the Delaware Chancery Court.
“We have faith that our stockholders support the current board and share our strong and legitimate concerns about Driver’s candidate,” Scott Kavanaugh, First Foundation’s president and CEO, said in the release.
“We believe that Driver and its candidate have attempted to create an enormous distraction for this bank at a time when we have significantly more important matters to attend to,” Kavanagh added.
Separately, the company appointed Gabe Vazquez to join the board. Vazquez, associate general counsel for Texas power company Vistra, will stand for reelection at this year’s meeting.
The annual meeting is set for June 7.