Desert Partners Loses Bid for Six USG Board Seats

USG Corp., winning a round against its hostile suitor Desert Partners LP, said during an annual shareholders meeting Wednesday that it has kept control of six seats up for election on its 15-member board.

Desert Partners, a limited partnership led by Texas oilmen Jack E. Brown and Cyrus Wagner Jr., had nominated its own slate for USG’s board in an effort to take control of the building materials company. However, USG Chairman Robert Day said proxies received by the company before Wednesday’s meeting indicated that USG won more than 50% of the votes cast.

USG, which makes gypsum wallboard used in house construction, expects the final vote count to be announced May 20 at a continuation of its annual meeting.

Desert Partners has bid $42 a share for 76% of USG’s 51.5 million shares. The offer, which values USG at $2.1 billion, expires May 13.7