(Adds details of vote, background on Home Capital)
TORONTO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Home Capital's HCG.TO shareholders on Wednesday rejected a proposal for Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) to raise its stake in the company, voting against the board's recommendation.
Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) last month recommended shareholders vote against the proposal, which would have seen Berkshire Hathaway BRKa.N increase its shareholding from 20 percent to 38.4 percent. Capital's Chairwoman Brenda Eprile told a special meeting of shareholders that 88.79 percent of votes cast were against the proposal with 11.21 percent in favor.
The deal would have seen Berkshire Hathaway buy new shares in the company at a price of C$10.30 per share, a deep discount to Home Capital's closing price of C$14.08 on Monday.
Berkshire did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Home Capital and Berkshire agreed in June to a deal worth up to C$400 million ($329 million) for an initial stake of 20 percent in the business. The agreement enabled Berkshire to increase its stake to 38 percent subject to shareholder approval. took his stake in the company and provided a C$2 billion credit facility after investors withdrew more than 90 percent of funds from Home Capital's high-interest savings accounts earlier this year.
The withdrawals accelerated after April 19, when the Ontario Securities Commission accused Home Capital of making misleading statements to investors about its mortgage underwriting business. Home Capital reached a settlement with the commission in June and accepted responsibility for misleading investors.
Home Capital has said the terms of the credit facility, which it doesn't currently have funds drawn down on, will remain unchanged in the event of shareholders rejecting the proposal for Buffett to increase his stake.
($1 = 1.2143 Canadian dollars)