(Bloomberg) -- Tegna Inc.’s third-biggest shareholder plans to nominate four directors to the broadcaster’s board after its push for the company to explore a sale was stonewalled, according to people familiar with the matter.

Standard General LP, which owns about 9.8% of Tegna, is expected to file its slate of directors with regulators as early as Wednesday, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Standard General has discussed its views with management but the company has stymied its push for board representation and call to explore strategic alternatives, the people said.

The New York-based investment firm believes there are several candidates for a takeover or merger with Tegna, the people said. It also believes the company’s current strategy has failed to explore all the potential opportunities to unlock value, they said.

Standard General had been seeking two Tegna board seats before expanding its slate, the people said. Tegna has 11 directors, according to its website.

A representative for Standard General declined to comment. A representative for Tegna wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Share Climb

Tegna’s shares rose 1.2% to $17 in New York trading Tuesday. The stock has climbed 46% in the past year, giving the company a market value of $3.7 billion.

Tegna, based in McLean, Virginia, owns 62 television stations and four radio stations across the U.S., according to its website.

In August, Tegna said it had drawn takeover interest from private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc.

Tegna said Apollo had twice approached it about potential transactions, including most recently in June with a proposal to combine Tegna’s broadcasting assets with those Apollo was in the midst of buying. An earlier proposal to acquire the entire company was short on details, including price, Tegna said in a statement at the time.

Apollo closed its purchase of a portfolio of television and radio stations from Cox Enterprises Inc. in December.

Standard General is run by Soo Kim, who co-founded the firm in 2007 after working at Bankers Trust, Och-Ziff Capital Management, and Cyrus Capital Partners.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Deveau in New York at sdeveau2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Liana Baker at lbaker75@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha, Matthew Monks

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