HSY » Topics » Description of the Milton Hershey School Trust and Hershey Trust Company

This excerpt taken from the HSY DEF 14A filed Mar 10, 2005.

Description of the Milton Hershey School Trust and Hershey Trust Company

Milton Hershey School, a non-profit school for the full-time care and education of disadvantaged children located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, is the sole beneficiary of the trust established by Milton S. and Catherine S. Hershey in 1909. Investment decisions with respect to securities held by Hershey Trust Company, as Trustee for the benefit of Milton Hershey School (the “Milton Hershey School Trust”), are made by the Board of Directors of Hershey Trust Company, as Trustee, with the approval of the Board of Managers (governing body) of Milton Hershey School. Decisions regarding the voting of such securities are made by the Board of Directors of Hershey Trust Company, as Trustee for the benefit of Milton Hershey School. The Milton Hershey School Trust will be entitled to cast 13,271,753 of the total 184,977,601 votes, or 7.2%, entitled to be cast on matters required to be voted on separately by the holders of the Common Stock, and 619,391,873 of the total 793,845,861 votes, or 78%, entitled to be cast by the holders of the Common Stock and the Class B Stock voting together on matters to be voted on without regard to class.

Hershey Trust Company is a state-chartered trust company and holds 437,687 shares of the Company’s Common Stock in its capacity as institutional fiduciary for 93 estates and trusts unrelated to the Milton Hershey School Trust. Hershey Trust Company also holds 389,000 shares of Common Stock as investments. Investment decisions and decisions with respect to voting of securities held by Hershey Trust Company as institutional fiduciary and as investments are made by the Board of Directors or management of Hershey Trust Company.

Hershey Trust Company, as Trustee for the benefit of Milton Hershey School, as fiduciary for the above-noted individual trusts and estates, and as direct owner of investment shares, will be entitled to vote 14,098,440 shares of Common Stock and 60,612,012 shares of Class B Stock at the Annual Meeting.

Pursuant to the Company’s Certificate, all holders of Class B Stock, including the Milton Hershey School Trust, are entitled to convert any or all of their Class B Stock shares into shares of Common Stock at any time on a share-for-share basis. In the event the Milton Hershey School Trust ceases to hold more than 50% of the outstanding shares of the Class B Stock and at least 15% of the total outstanding shares of both the Common Stock and Class B Stock, all shares of the Class B Stock will automatically be converted into shares of Common Stock on a share-for-share basis. The Company’s Certificate requires the approval of the Milton Hershey School Trust prior to the Company issuing shares of Common Stock or undertaking any other action which would cause the Milton Hershey School Trust to cease to be able to cast a majority of the votes entitled to be cast with regard to any matter upon which the Class B Stock is entitled to vote either separately as a class or together with any other class.

All of the outstanding shares of Hershey Trust Company are owned by the Milton Hershey School Trust. The members of the Board of Managers of Milton Hershey School are appointed by and from the Board of Directors of Hershey Trust Company. There are 11 members of the Board of Directors of Hershey Trust Company and 10 members of the Board of Managers of Milton Hershey School, including Robert F. Cavanaugh, who is a director of the Company, and R. H. Lenny, who is a director and the Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Directors of Hershey Trust Company and members of the Milton Hershey School Board of Managers individually are not considered to be beneficial owners of the Company’s shares of Common Stock or Class B Stock held by the Milton Hershey School Trust.

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