Sandell Asset Management Corp. Again Seeks Concrete Plan From Board of Southern Union Company (NYSE: SUG) to Close Valuation Gap
2006年12月6日 - 5:17AM
PRニュース・ワイアー (英語)
Sandell Affiliate Announces Intention to Nominate Director
Candidates and Commences Litigation Seeking to Invalidate
Entrenchment Bylaw NEW YORK, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Sandell Asset
Management Corp. announced that it has sent a letter to Southern
Union Company again seeking concrete steps to enhance stockholder
value and close the valuation gap between the stock price and what
Sandell believes to be the stock's intrinsic value. In the absence
of a plan from Southern Union, Sandell itself put forth various
proposed initiatives for value creation and openly requested input
from the board. Sandell urged the board to put the company up for
sale if it remains unwilling to restructure the company in a manner
more conducive to public market value creation. "In our experience,
well governed companies that take their responsibility to
shareholders seriously detail specific plans for value creation and
allow management and the Board to be graded against such goals,"
Sandell said in the letter. "Regrettably, we have seen no such plan
from SUG and can only assume that one does not exist," the letter
continued. "We firmly believe that Southern Union has a very
valuable collection of assets and that the market currently does
not fully reflect the value of these assets ... If the Board is
unwilling to restructure the Company in a manner more conducive to
public market value creation, we urge the Board to put Southern
Union up for sale." Attached to the letter was an analysis
containing more specific details of Sandell's proposals. Sandell
and certain of its affiliates hold more than 9.8% of the company's
common stock and are, to their knowledge, the company's largest
stockholder. Sandell also announced that Castlerigg Master
Investments Ltd., an investment fund affiliated with Sandell,
notified Southern Union of its intention to nominate three highly
qualified independent candidates for election to the board of
directors at the 2007 annual meeting of stockholders. Sandell,
Castlerigg and others currently intend to conduct a proxy
solicitation seeking to elect this minority slate to the board. In
connection with the notice, Castlerigg simultaneously delivered a
demand letter seeking to exercise its right pursuant to Delaware
law to inspect and make copies or extracts from certain stocklist
materials of Southern Union. In order to preserve its right as a
stockholder to nominate director candidates, Castlerigg also filed
a complaint in the Delaware Court of Chancery in which it, among
other things, charges that the director nomination provision of
Southern Union's bylaws is invalid. The suit alleges that the
challenged bylaw provision is an entrenchment device that purports
to strip stockholders of their right under Delaware law to nominate
director candidates by providing that candidates must be approved
by a hand-picked committee of incumbent directors. "We will
continue to make every effort to work constructively with the board
and management in our efforts to focus them on delivering maximum
value for the benefit of all stockholders," said Thomas E. Sandell,
founder, principal and Chief Executive Officer of Sandell Asset
Management Corp. "We each have a significant vested interest in
seeing the company's valuation improved." About Sandell Asset
Management Corp. Sandell Asset Management Corp. is a multi-billion
dollar global investment management firm, founded by Thomas E.
Sandell, that focuses on global corporate events and restructurings
throughout North America, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom,
Latin America and the Asia-Pacific theatres. Sandell frequently
will take an "active involvement" in facilitating financial or
organizational improvements accruing to the benefit of investors.
DATASOURCE: Sandell Asset Management Corp. CONTACT: Thomas E.
Sandell of Sandell Asset Management Corp., +1-212-603-5700
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