Gannett Co. sent a letter April 8 to its shareholders
urging that they say no to a hedge fund-owned company's effort to take over its
board, USA Today reported.
USA Today
owner Gannett accused MNG Enterprises, owned by New York-based hedge fund Alden
Global Capital, of “attempting to promote its self-serving agenda to take
control of Gannett” by nominating six directors to the company's board.
Gannett
urged shareholders to re-elect all members of its board who have said they’ll
still serve on the board.
“Fighting
for Gannett Board seats was not our choice,” said a statement from MNG. “We had
even offered to stand down from this proxy fight if the Board would engage with
us. But they refused. It remains our strong preference to engage cooperatively
with Gannett’s Board, and we are prepared to meet immediately to conduct our
confirmatory diligence and work toward a mutually acceptable definitive
agreement.”
On Jan. 14,
MNG, known as Digital First Media, made an unsolicited bid to buy Gannett for
$12 a share. Gannett said no to the bid and raised doubts about MNG’s plan to
finance it. In its April 8 letter, Gannett said it believed the deal would be
too debt-ridden.
“We have
spoken with many Gannett shareholders, and we have heard their desire for
Gannett to engage with us regarding our compelling” proposal, the statement
from MNG said.
Before
pursuing an acquisition of Gannett, MNG had proposed to Gannett officials
that Gannett should buy MNG's newspapers, according to a regulatory filing by Gannett , USA
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