Assignment and Challenges
The company was facing a vote to approve a reverse split which required an affirmative vote of majority of the outstanding shares. The company was facing a possible delisting because the stock price was in danger of falling below $1.00. With the meeting date passed and at the end of the first adjournment, the company had only 39% of the voting in favor.
The company was facing a difficult challenge with the responsiveness from shareholders. The declining stock price created an apathetic sentiment with a shareholder base largely held by retail shareholders, who are notoriously apathetic voters.
Solution
The company hired º¬Ðß²Ýapp to take over the proxy solicitation from the original proxy solicitor at the onset of the 2nd adjournment period. º¬Ðß²Ýapp analyzed the shareholder base and found a heavy concentration of retail shareholders, including non-US based shareholders.
º¬Ðß²Ýapp designed and Retail Outreach Program that consisted of the following, but not limited to:
- Priority mailings to the largest shareholders urging them to contact us to vote their shares.
- Targeted calls to unvoted Non Objecting Beneficial (NOBO) shareholders urging them to vote over the phone with our operators.
- Email messages to shareholders providing them with instructions on how to vote by email.
- Text messages to facilitate vote by cell phone.
- “Telegram” styled messages for international shareholders encouraging them to vote electronically.
- Pre-recorded messages from the CEO explaining the benefits of voting FOR management’s proposals.
Results
º¬Ðß²Ýapp delivered a majority of the outstanding vote by the final adjournment period. By º¬Ðß²Ýapp delivering the vote on time the company did not have to undertake a costly process of a completely new shareholder meeting.
