Administration October 11, 2004

Roy Disney Starts Corp. Governance Fund

November 10, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Not too long after waging a boardroom brawl with Michael Eisner, chief executive officer of Walt Disney Co., Roy Disney is out beating the bushes for $1.25 billion to fund a corporate governance portfolio.
Reported by

Shamrock Holdings Inc., which is the Disney family’s investment manager, set up a corporate governance fund, documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show, according to Bloomberg. Others who run such funds put money into troubled companies and then pressure management to improve management and board oversight.

The new fund, based at Roy Disney’s office in Burbank, California, filed with the SEC on under the name Shamrock Governance Fund LP. The filing described the offering as a private partnership “formed to make equity and equity-related investments in the U.S.” The fund said it hopes to attract as much as $1.25 billion and has received $220 million from five investors so far.

Roy Disney, 74, took an “active and aggressive position” in trying to oust Eisner as Disney’s chairman and CEO, said Charles Elson, director of the University of Delaware’s Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance (See   Eisner Protest Vote Reaches 43%  ).

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