2023-05-11 14:02:17 ET

The largest shareholder of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals ( NASDAQ: AUPH ) said it plans to withholder support for seven board members at the company's upcoming annual meeting.

Iljin SNT, which has a 6.1% stake, said it plans to withhold support from seven board members, including Chairman George M. Milne, and Joseph Hagan, chairman of the compensation committee, according to a 13D/A filing on Wednesday.

The filing comes after MKT Capital, another large holder of Aurinia ( AUPH ) with a 4.2% stake, said last month that it's opposed to the election of three directors, including the Chairman Milne and CEO Peter Greenleaf. Aurinia ( AUPH ), often the talk of takeover speculation, saw its shares plunge 81% last year.

"We believe that the Aurinia board has consistently failed to carry out its important role to supervise the company management's performance and ensure the management's adequate performance," Iljin SNT wrote in a letter to the board on Wednesday.

MKT last month urged Aurinia ( AUPH ) to start a review, writing that a "reconstituted board" should "commence a strategic review process immediately to explore a sale of the entire business."

“It is encouraging that Aurinia’s largest investor shares our concerns regarding the company’s poor performance, troubling compensation practices and failure to commercialize Lupkynis, and accordingly plans to withhold support for a majority of the board at the upcoming annual meeting," Antoine Khalife, founder of MKT Capital, said in a statement on Thursday.

Aurinia ( AUPH ) has been the subject of takeover speculation for a few years since Bloomberg reported in October 2021 about a potential bid from Bristol-Myers Squibb ( BMY ).

Aurinia ( AUPH ) shares fell 3% in trading on Thursday. AUPH short interest is 12%.

More on Aurinia

• Aurinia Pharmaceuticals: Some Improvement In Topline, But A Buyout Alone Will Unlock Value
• Aurinia Pharmaceuticals: All In On Lupkynis - A Tough Bet
• Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Has Strong Upside Potential
• Aurinia Pharma gains after Q1 beat and guidance raise
• Aurinia Pharmaceuticals gains amid renewed takeover speculation

• Aurinia Pharmaceuticals gains amid M&A speculation following patent settlement

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