Diana Shipping has challenged Genco Shipping and Trading to announce a date for its 2026 annual meeting after a preliminary proxy statement was filed on April 24 without establishing a schedule.
The firm, which owns 14.8 per cent of Genco common stock, noted the filing omitted both the meeting and record dates.
According to the statement, Genco reserved three separate record dates of April 4, April 28 and May 18, but has yet to formalise a choice. Diana Shipping alleged this failure to set a date is an attempt to manipulate the proxy machinery and confuse brokers.
The company stated that the Genco board is attempting to avoid giving shareholders a voice regarding an all-cash acquisition offer.
The current impasse follows months of acquisition attempts by Diana Shipping, all of which were repeatedly rejected by Genco’s board.
Chief Executive Officer Semiramis Paliou observed, “Filing a proxy statement without announcing a meeting date or a record date is not a clerical error, it is a strategy.”
She further alleged that the board is using procedural tactics to delay the election of directors who might consider strategic alternatives.
Diana Shipping reported that the board unilaterally adopted a poison pill with a 10 per cent trigger and a retention plan of undisclosed cost. These actions were described by the company as part of a campaign to deny shareholders the opportunity to realise the value of the acquisition proposal.
The company has called for the immediate disclosure of the 2026 annual meeting date to end what it termed "the disenfranchisement of investors." Diana Shipping also said it intends to address what it described as "inaccurate and misleading" statements in the preliminary proxy filing.
