Activist Investor Responds to H.B. Fuller Acquisition Announcement
.webp?t=1704834340)
Following H.B. Fuller’s announcement of plans to acquire Advanced Medical Solutions Group, Ancora Holdings Group, LLC, an activist investor that holds a 2% share in H.B. Fuller, responded to the announcement. In a statement released shortly after H.B. Fuller’s acquisition announcement, Ancora leadership sharply criticized the acquisition and accused the board of management of acting against shareholder’s interests.
In the statement, Fredrick D. DiSanto, chairman and chief executive officer of Ancora, and James Chadwick, president of Ancora Alternatives LLC, stated, “We believe H.B. Fuller’s Board and management have exposed themselves as disingenuous at best and deceitful at worst throughout their pursuit of AMS. Our view was solidified by H.B. Fuller’s decision to issue its acquisition press release at 2:10 AM Eastern Daylight Time today.” Ancora accused H.B. Fuller of deciding to “sneak out a press release in the dead of night” and said that was evidence of leadership trying to “soften market blowback” with that timing. The statement when on, “As evidenced by the companies’ respective trading prices early today, the only beneficiaries of this ploy are AMS shareholders.”
Stating that H.B. Fuller made the decision to acquire AMS over public and private objections of shareholders, Ancora leadership reiterated that the company had stated earlier its intention to focus on “cash deployment for share repurchases and share deleveraging rather than material transactions,” and accused company leadership of placing their own interests ahead of those of shareholders.
The statement concluded, “Looking ahead, Ancora intends to hold the Board and management accountable for its value destruction driven by entrenchment. We are especially disappointed to see that the acquisition of AMS was supported by all three directors slated to stand for election next year: Ruth S. Kimmelshue, Thomas W. Handley and Srilata A. Zaheer. We will not sit by while misaligned and self-interested leadership puts H.B. Fuller’s valuable assets at risk. We remain highly focused on realizing the tremendous value of H.B. Fuller – and we will not be deterred by the Company’s defensive governance and staggered Board structure.”
Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!
