Cliffs Natural Resources board of directors won't know shareholder vote for up to three days

Cliffs Natural Resources will be split up if the hedge fund Casablanca Capital managed to replace the company's board of directors with its own candidates at the company's annual shareholder meeting Tuesday. Plain Dealer file photo

CLEVELAND -- Shareholders of Cliffs Natural Resources will have to wait as long as three days to learn whether their board of directors survived a take-over attempt by New York hedge fund Casablanca Capital.

Following the close of voting today over the noon hour at the iron ore and coal mining company's annual shareholder meeting here, Gary Halverson, CEO, president and director, announced results would not be immediately available.

"Given the contested nature...preliminary voting results will not be available for three days," he said of the proposal to elect the company's board of directors.

Bloomberg News reported that Casablanca issued a statement claiming that all six of its nominees had been elected.

Both the company and Casablanca had presented shareholders with a slate of candidates. The hedge fund, which has acquired 5.2 percent of the company's shares, initially propose breaking up the company, splitting its international assets from its U.S. divisions

When negotiations soured, Casablanca fielded its own director candidates.