Endeavor Investor Group issued a statement Wednesday condemning Mawson Infrastructure Group’s (NASDAQ: MIGI) adoption of a stockholder rights plan as a move to protect management at the expense of shareholders.
The activist investor criticized the board for shielding itself from accountability rather than addressing operational underperformance.
“Mawson’s decision to implement the Rights Plan is yet another example of Management acting to entrench itself rather than address the Company’s persistent operational underperformance and destruction of shareholder value. This Rights Plan hurts shareholders by impeding constructive voices and shielding the current leadership team from accountability,” the press release reads.
On Monday, Mawson adopted the limited-duration stockholder rights agreement to prevent a takeover without a control premium, according to the company’s February 2 statement. The plan triggers if an entity acquires 20% or more of the outstanding common stock, allowing other shareholders to purchase shares at a 50% discount. Per SEC filings, Endeavor and its affiliates reported a combined ownership of roughly 48% as of January 30.
“Rather than take the necessary steps to fix Mawson, Management has instead engaged in financial engineering to dilute shareholders and preserve their own jobs,” Endeavor charges in its press release.
The implementation of the rights plan followed the board’s rejection of an earlier proposal from Endeavor’s bid regarding a tender offer and equity financing that included provisions to select a new CEO on January 8.
Header image by Jiří Suchý via Unsplash.
