Shareholders in Bremer Financial Corp. on Thursday elected a new board of directors that for the first time did not include leaders of the charitable trust that holds majority stake in the company, which runs Minnesota's fourth-largest bank.
The vote came at the company's annual meeting, held a day after the St. Paul judge presiding over the legal dispute between Bremer Financial and the Otto Bremer Trust ruled that the company had the right to put forth whatever slate of director candidates it wanted.
In a statement, Bremer Financial said it "appreciates the court's care and attention to this important issue and its decision upholding the longstanding right of BFC's shareholders to elect the board of directors at the annual meeting."
For about two years, leaders of the trust and executives of the bank company have been fighting over the future of the company, with the trust seeking to sell it to another bank.
Bremer Financial is the only bank in the U.S. that is owned by a charity and most of its profits are funneled to the trust, which distributes them to charities and causes in the states where Bremer Bank has a presence.
While the trust owns about a 90% stake in Bremer Financial, it controls only about 20% of the voting shares of the company, under an agreement reached in 1989 to bring it into compliance with a 1969 federal law meant to thwart charitable trusts that were formed to benefit corporate owners and shield them from taxes.