WisdomTree slams dissident investors for ‘false and misleading assertions’
Investment giant WisdomTree has hit back at what it said were “false and misleading assertions” levelled at the firm by shareholders ETFS Capital Limited and Lion Point Capital, after they accused the board of lack of concern for its investors.
The New York-based investment firm accused the two major shareholders of “grossly mischaracterising” WisdomTree’s Board when they published an open letter in March calling for a refresh in the firm’s leadership and a new CEO to be appointed.
Bosses at WisdomTree said they actively engaged Lion Point to avoid a proxy war, meeting with Cristiano Amoruso, a Principal of Lion Point, 13 times over the past few months.
But it says ETFS and Lion Point then “abruptly abandoned” a cooperation agreement at the eleventh hour.
“A cooperation agreement with ETFS and Lion Point would have been a win for all stockholders,” said Frank Salerno, WisdomTree Chair of the Board.
“We were shocked that, mere hours before its planned announcement, ETFS and Lion Point abruptly and irresponsibly discarded the cooperation agreement and announced their intention to engage in a proxy fight.”
Salerno said that unless Lion Point was “always negotiating in bad faith”, it could only conclude that Graham Tuckwell, the Chairman and CEO of ETFS, “deliberately derailed this agreement”.
“From the start, Mr. Tuckwell has been driven by his outsized ego and personal animosity towards WisdomTree’s Founder and CEO, Jono Steinberg, and has insisted that only he, Mr. Tuckwell, can lead this Company,” WisdomTree said.
The spat exacerbates tensions between WisdomTree and two of its largest shareholders. At the time the initial open letter from the two investors was published, ETFS owned 10.4 per cent of the common stock of WisdomTree and Lion Point held 3.1 per cent, Investment Week reported.
Lion Point has been contacted for comment.