Gillette Claims Victory Over Coniston Slate

Gillette Co.’s directors declared victory Tuesday in a proxy fight with Coniston Partners LP for control of the company, but analysts said Coniston was likely to continue its fight to replace four company directors and seek a buyer for Gillette’s global personal care empire.

Analysts said most of the support for Gillette came from individual shareholders interested in retaining a stable investment and confused by the lack of definite sale plan by Coniston.

A preliminary count of about 87 million shares voting in the proxy election indicate that the four Gillette directors received 52% support, Gillette said. It said that tally exceeded the 48% of shareholder votes backing Coniston Group’s slate of directors for the three-year terms.

The announcement culminates a proxy battle launched in February by New York-based Coniston, which pledged to persuade the other eight directors to sell Gillette if its candidates were elected to the board. Possible suitors included Revlon Group Inc., which ended a series of takeover attempts in 1986 after Gillette paid about $580 million to repurchase its shares.

The proxy ballots were submitted during Gillette’s April 21 annual meeting in Andover, Mass.

After the ballots were cast both sides had claimed victory, with Coniston noting support from many large institutional shareholders.

Coniston principal Augustus K. Oliver vowed Tuesday to immediately file a recount request, saying their ballot projections were higher.

May Seek New Vote

“We submitted a lot more votes than we seem to be getting credit for,” Oliver said. “It puzzles us, and we’ll try to figure out exactly how many people were on our side.”

Oliver also said Coniston attorneys may request a new election as part of the “equitable relief” sought in a countersuit filed last month in U.S. District Court claiming that Gillette issued false and misleading statements about Coniston during the three-month proxy battle.