Shareholders in Mallinckrodt, the Dublin-based but U.S.-run drugmaker in the middle of a bankruptcy reorganization, are being urged by a leading corporate advisory firm to vote against some directors as a parting rebuke over its handling of the U.S. opioid crisis and executive pay, the Irish Times reported. Mallinckrodt filed for bankruptcy in Delaware last October as the company was overwhelmed by lawsuits accusing it of deceptively marketing opioids. The company is pursuing a U.S. court-supervised chapter 11 reorganization that would set up a $1.6 billion trust to resolve opioid-related claims with states, local governments and private individuals. The plan, supported by certain creditors and subject to broader votes by early September, would see unsecured bondholders take control of the company, some $1.3 billion of debt being eliminated and general unsecured creditors split $150 million in cash. Existing shareholders are set to be wiped out by the debt restructuring. Glass Lewis, an influential shareholder advisory firm on corporate governance, is calling on investors to vote against the re-election of board members Martin Carroll and Kneeland Youngblood at the group’s annual general meeting in Dublin next month. Both have been members of Mallinckrodt committees covering governance and compliance since the company floated in New York in 2013. Almost 500,000 people died from overdoses involving opioids, including prescription and illicit drugs, in the US in the 20 years to 2019, according to figures from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Mallinckrodt was the third opioid maker to seek chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
