The activist investor squaring off with Cliffs Natural Resources Inc named its preferred candidate for chief executive officer on Wednesday and said it plans to nominate enough new directors to form a majority of the hard-hit iron ore miner's board.Hedge fund Casablanca Capital, which owns about 5.2 percent of Cliffs, said it is backing Lourenco Goncalves, former chief executive of Metals USA, to take the top job at Cliffs.Last month Casablanca publicly urged Cliffs to spin off its international operations and form a master limited partnership from its U.S. assets, but the fund declined to say what its next steps would be if Cliffs refused.The campaign is Casablanca's first foray into mining. Founded in 2010 by former investment bankers Donald Drapkin and Douglas Taylor, the fund is best known for pushing, along with activist investor Carl Icahn, for a board shakeup at electronic design automation company Mentor Graphics in 2011.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. is an international mining and natural resources company. Shares of CLF traded higher by 2.65% or $0.57/share to $22.07. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $15.41 and as high as $31.20. On average, 8092570 shares of CLF exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2009668.
Mentor Graphics Corporation is a supplier of electronic design automation (EDA) tools - computer software and emulation hardware systems used to automate the design, analysis, and testing of electro-mechanical systems, electronic hardware, and embedded systems software in electronic systems and components. Shares of MENT traded higher by 0.66% or $0.1298/share to $19.80. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $13.21 and as high as $24.31. On average, 709136 shares of MENT exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 14380.
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