CF:CC - Crescendo Partners a Large Shareholder of Canaccord Genuity Issues Open Letter to Canaccord Special Committee Chair
NEW YORK, March 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crescendo Partners, a New York City based investment firm that beneficially owns a sizable position in the common stock of Canaccord Genuity Group, Inc.,(TSX: CF), today, issued an open letter to Canaccord’s Chair of the Special Committee, Jill Denham, regarding the proposal to take the company private.
The full text of the letter follows:
Crescendo Partners
777 3 rd Avenue
37 th Floor
New York, NY 10017
(212)-319-7676
March 10th, 2023
Ms. Jill Denham
Chair of the Special Committee
Canaccord Genuity
609 Granville Street
Suite 2200
Vancouver, Canada V7Y 1H2
Dear Jill,
Crescendo Partners and its affiliates (“Crescendo”) are large shareholders of Canaccord Genuity (“Canaccord” or “the Company”). I write to you to address the current untenable position in which the Special Committee and Canaccord now find themselves. My viewpoint is informed by my recent experience of being a board member of Canaccord and by my extensive experience in the capital markets in Canada and the United States.
I believe Canaccord is not well suited to continue being a public company. Despite efforts over the last 15 years to lessen the cyclicality of the business, no long-term shareholder value has been created. The ideal time to have sold the company was at the peak of the last cycle, but the rest of the board rejected exploring that path when I had proposed it.
Now the shareholders are being offered a very substantial premium to the trading price of the stock over the last several months. I believe there is an immediate opportunity for the Special Committee and the Management Group proposing to buy the Company to reach an agreement on an improved price.
The Management Group’s position that they are only buyers and not sellers make it virtually impossible for any other buyer to purchase such a people intensive business. You have hired Barclays to explore the sale of Canaccord or parts of the Company. In my opinion, simply selling a part of the business is unlikely to create a significant premium to the current trading price of the stock.
On Tuesday, Skky Capital Corporation Limited (“Skky”), requisitioned a shareholder meeting to remove the members of the Special Committee and add two new directors. So now the Management Group, with its takeover bid and through the actions of Skky, and the Special Committee, each has a threat of drastic action on the table. You’ll probably be able to postpone the shareholder meeting until July, resulting in this mess continuing for the next four months and causing untold damage to Canaccord and its business. In order to avoid this scenario, I strongly suggest that the Special Committee reach an agreement with the Management Group in the near term on an improved bid. I would expect that if both of you are creative and flexible, a price in excess of $11.25 is achievable.
If an agreement is not reached and the Special Committee ends up causing there to be no transaction, Crescendo intends to support the new slate at the requisitioned meeting.
Yours truly,
Eric Rosenfeld