Big shareholder joins dissidents at Tenet, owner of NLV hospital

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2000 | 10:56 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE SERVICES

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Tenet Healthcare Corp. shareholders who are trying to elect a slate of board members to the No. 2 U.S. hospital chain have won support from the California Public Employees' Retirement System.

Tenet owns Lake Mead Hospital in North Las Vegas.

Calpers said it will vote for the nominees of the Tenet Shareholder Committee at the company's Oct. 11 annual meeting because the pension fund agrees with the group's objectives.

"We believe the presence of the dissident directors will add some new blood to the Tenet board and spur them to adopt some strategies that will increase shareholder value," said spokesman Brad Pacheco.

Calpers, the nation's largest public pension fund, owns about 1.8 million shares of Tenet stock.

The shareholders, led by Florida physician and businessman M. Lee Pearce, have accused Tenet's board of paying Chief Executive Jeffrey Barbakow too much and not boosting the Santa Barbara, Calif.-based company's profits.

"Clearly, we are not alone in calling for serious change and accountability at Tenet," Pearce said in a statement.

Pacheco said the pension fund also supports the shareholders' call to elect Tenet directors to one-year terms rather than the current three-year terms.

Tenet declined to comment on the Calpers decision. Tenet spokesman Harry Anderson did note the pension fund holds less than 1 percent of Tenet's almost 316 million outstanding shares.

Calpers manages $177 billion in investments.

Tenet owns 110 hospitals. HCA-The Healthcare Co. is the biggest U.S. hospital chain.