(Reuters) -Activist investor Starboard Value LP launched a proxy battle on Monday to take greater control of cloud services provider Box Inc as it nominated four directors for election to the company's board.
Starboard, which owns about 8% of Box, earlier said the company had failed to capitalize on the work-from-home trend during the COVID-19 pandemic, falling behind its cloud computing peers.
Box, in response, said it does not believe that changes proposed by Starboard to its board were "warranted or in the best interests of all stockholders".
"The Box Board has been consistently responsive to feedback from all of its stockholders, including suggestions from Starboard ... furthermore, Starboard's statements do not accurately depict the progress Box has made," the company said.
The activist investor last week said it planned to nominate directors to Box's board. In response, Box highlighted that it had added directors to its board under an agreement with Starboard last year.
"While last year we were pleased to reach agreement on the appointment of two new independent director candidates, it is now clear that those appointments have not created enough change," Starboard said in a letter addressed to Box's shareholders on Monday.
Starboard's nominees include Deborah Conrad, who previously served as chief marketing officer at Intel Corp and Peter Feld, managing member and head of research at Starboard.
(Reporting by Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Shounak Dasgupta)
