Known Upcoming Events, Large-Shareholders(31%), RONIN-PPHM HISTORY, updated 7-20-17 with a Ronin/SW “Letter to Employees of Peregrine”
KNOWN UPCOMING:
Jul25: Neo-Synth’s "Precision: Lung Cancer - World R&D Summit", Boston http://tinyurl.com/ydcxlkja
...12:00pm: Bruce Freimark (Res.Dir/PreClin-Oncol), “Overriding PS-Mediated Tumor Immune Suppression to Enhance Immune Checkpoint Therapies”
Jul27: Final Settlement Hearing for 2013 Shareholder Derivative CA Lawsuit vs. BOD http://tinyurl.com/y982h3rt
Aug15-16: CBI’s MES 2017 (Mfg. Execution Systems), Orlando http://tinyurl.com/ya4twmbj
...Aug16/8:45am: Mehron Mirian (SeniorMgr./QA Validation), "MES AUDIT DEEP DIVE Computerized System Audit"
Aug21-25/Avid Booth #403: CHI's 9th Annual BioProcessing Summit, Boston http://www.bioprocessingsummit.com
~Sep7: FY'18Q1 (qe 7-31-17) Financials & Conf. Call - http://ir.peregrineinc.com/events.cfm
Sep25-28/Avid Booth #918: Informa’s BPI’17: BioProcess Intl. Conf. & Exhibition, Boston https://lifesciences.knect365.com/bioprocessinternational
Oct2/NCI Scientist Gregoire Altan-Bonnet(MSKCC ties), AACR’s Tumor Immunotherapy Conf., Boston http://tinyurl.com/y74v76go
...“Long-Lived Disruption of Inflammation Stems from the Catch-and-Release of Cytokines Mediated by Surface Phosphatidylserine in Tumors”
~Oct12: Peregrine's Annual Shareholder’s Meeting (2016 attendee reports: http://tinyurl.com/jx7ouay )
Dec11-15/Avid Booth #311: KNect365’s Antibody Eng. & Therapeutics Conf., SanDiego https://lifesciences.knect365.com/antibody-engineering-therapeutics
~Dec11: FY'18Q2 (qe 10-31-17) Financials & Conf. Call - http://ir.peregrineinc.com/events.cfm
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7-24-17: Large Ownership Summary(31%), RONIN Letters/PPHM Comments
Large Ownership now ~13.9mm shares, 31.0% of 45mm O/S. (Ronin+SW/Stafford+White, Eastern Cap./K.Dart, Institutions)
#1: 10-30-15: Kenneth Dart (Eastern Capital) acquires 9.6% stake (4,300,992sh.) in PPHM http://tinyurl.com/y95yskck
...3,777,183 COMMON – 8.4% of 45,069,188 common O/S at 7-10-17 (total beneficial=4,300,992 if Pref. conv. x1.19 to Common, 9.6%)
...440,000 PREFERRED – 26.7% of 1,647,760 preferred O/S at 1-31-17
#2: 7-14-17/13D: Group Ronin Trading/SWInvest (John Stafford III+Stephen White) acquires 8.8% stake (3,952,446sh.) in PPHM http://tinyurl.com/y7ezqvm9
...3,801,139 COMMON – 8.4% of 45,069,188 common O/S at 7-10-17 (total beneficial=3,952,446 if Pref. conv. x1.19 to Common, 8.8%)
...127,099 PREFERRED – 7.7% of 1,647,760 preferred O/S at 1-31-17
NOTE: ALL historical common #’s adjusted for the 1:7 R/S eff. 7-10-17.
RONIN/SW 13D SUMMARY:
13D TransDates COMMON-CHG PREF-CHG ENDING-COMMON ENDING-PREF.
3-2-17 1/20/17-3/1/17 +2,947,425 +51,364 2,947,425 51,364 http://tinyurl.com/jr42u23
3-10-17 3/2/17-3/9/17 +433,509 +25,661 3,380,934 77,025 http://tinyurl.com/ydxra96u
4-17-17 3/28/17-4/10/17 0 +23,334 3,380,934 100,359 http://tinyurl.com/lanjddc
5-19-17 5/1/17-5/17/17 0 +23,140 3,380,934 123,499 http://tinyurl.com/mgnn92x
6-20-17 3/10/17-6/16/17 +378,170 0 3,759,105 123,499 http://tinyurl.com/y76q5rqu
6-29-17 6/21/17 +7,143 0 3,766,248 123,499 http://tinyurl.com/y9sp8bfv
7-14-17 6/29/17-7/7/17 +34,891 +3,600 3,801,139 127,099 http://tinyurl.com/ybra4s69
SPLITOUT 13D GROUP into Ronin(John Stafford III) and SW-Partners(Stephen White):
Ronin Trading (Stafford) 3,173,391 115,299
SW-Partners (White) 627,748 11,800
See 13D Details Below.
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Plus, INSTITUTIONS a/o 3-31-17: 5,690,888sh. = 12.6% (of $5mm) http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/pphm/institutional-holdings
TOP5:
Kennedy Capital Mgt. 1,247,224 +164,952
Tappan Street Partners 914,304 +914,304
Vanguard Group 882,964 +267,438
Blackrock (Larry Fink, CEO) 855,455 +177,856
Renaissance Technologies 439,673 +6,259
RONIN/SW Letters to Shareholders/Employees & PPHM Responses: (newest first)
7-20-17: Ronin Trading and SWIM Issue Letter to Employees of Peregrine
- Elaborate on Strategic Vision & Intentions with Respect to Peregrine
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ronin-trading-and-sw-investment-management-issue-letter-to-employees-of-peregrine-pharmaceuticals-300491208.html
Dear Peregrine Employees:
Ronin Trading, LLC and SW Investment Mgt. LLC believe it is important that you understand a little more about us and what we are attempting to accomplish with our nominations of Gregory P. Sargen, Brian W. Scanlan, and Saiid Zarrabian for election to the Peregrine’s Board of Directors… As detailed in our 7-13-17 public letter to stockholders, we believe that the Company is suffering from mismanagement under the leadership of the incumbent Board that is comprised of egregiously compensated directors who lack relevant experience, possess an immaterial financial interest in the Company, and have histories of losses and questionable dealings outside of Peregrine. Rather than capitalize on the emergence of Peregrine's contract dev. & mfg. Business (“CMDO”), Avid Bioservices, the incumbents have elected to use Avid to support the unsuccessful development of bavituximab. We believe this is a mistake and that the Company and all of its stakeholders – stockholders, employees, and customers – would benefit from a focus on Avid. We want to invest more capital in Avid. We believe Peregrine should invest significantly more into Avid's people, capacity and technology – the only investments to date that have created value for Peregrine. Because of Avid's high return on capital, excellent competitive position and great regulatory track record, we believe that addl. investment will create even more value. Meanwhile, public & private market valuations for CDMOs remain very high, indicating the future return potential for businesses such as Avid. Avid should not be competing for capital with an unsuccessful drug dev. program; instead, it desperately needs a structure where it can invest for growth, free from the handicap of a mgt. team that forces it to prop up a failed clinical dev. business. Increased investment into Avid would also bring much-needed comfort to Avid's customers and the Company's other stakeholders. We appreciate how unsettling it is to see Peregrine's auditor raise substantial doubt as to the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. We are confident that these doubts would be alleviated by focusing on profitably growing Avid and not diverting resources to unrelated clinical dev. activities. We want to attract and retain the best employees for Avid. We genuinely appreciate that the value in CDMOs is as much (if not more) about the people as it is about the physical assets. We want Avid to attract and retain the best talent available, but that will only be possible with the following changes.
First, Peregrine needs a vastly improved culture, which begins with directors and mgt. who possess relevant experience, successful track records, and a true appreciation for Avid's business. Avid can no longer be treated as little more than a means to support extraneous pursuits. Employees deserve strong commitments from a knowledgeable, ethical mgt. team that is focused on growing Avid over the long-run. Second, incentive alignment is a critically important element to the success of any organization. As such, employees should be rewarded with better equity incentive compensation, and this compensation should reflect the work they do. This will only be possible if Peregrine immediately halts all clinical dev. work and reorganizes so that the price of Peregrine's stock is determined by the success of Avid rather than the struggles of clinical development. We are NOT unconditionally wedded to Peregrine's clinical dev. activities. While we acknowledge that there are always varying opinions on the prospects for any drug candidate, the evidence against bavituximab is clear. Despite hundreds of millions in R&D, this drug candidate has not produced any statistically significant results showing improvement in cancer survival rates, has no large partners and no identifiable quotes from key opinion leaders. No amount of "excitement" over data mining from Peregrine's current mgt. changes these facts. We want an independent & objective review of Peregrine's clinical dev. activities, and we believe our director candidates are highly qualified to undertake this review and run a monetization process. However, it is critically important to understand that regardless of anyone's opinion of Peregrine's clinical dev. assets, the Company has NO ability to underwrite any further R&D without simultaneously destroying the value of Avid. For this reason alone, Peregrine must immediately halt all clinical dev. R&D and cut the associated expenses.
We are NOT trying to sell the Company. We are not short-term investors looking to make a quick buck. In fact, when President & CEO Steven W. King previously privately acknowledged to us that the Company had considered selling all or a portion of Avid, we expressed our strong disapproval of any such transaction and belief that it would be contrary to the best interests of the Company and its stockholders. Instead, we insisted that the best option was to focus on taking a long-term view of Avid while managing Peregrine far more sensibly. We reminded Mr. King that a sale of Avid would require stockholder approval and cautioned against attempting to structure a transaction in a manner that would not require stockholder approval. We also explained to Mr. King that a spin-off transaction would be effectively impossible because of Peregrine's approx. $650mm tax-loss carryforward asset and the fact that Peregrine's clinical dev. has no ability to independently support its operations. We are NOT nominating ourselves to the Board. With the Company's 3 non-employee directors collectively earning over $10mm in total compensation since the start of FY2010 (not even including whatever they have received since April 30, 2016), we believe the incumbent directors are grossly overcompensated. We have no interest in receiving this exorbitant compensation at the expense of stockholders; rather, we want to profit with all other stockholders, which is why we are seeking the election of highly qualified, experienced, and reputable candidates who believe will be able to create value for all stockholders and bring stability to the Company for its employees and customers. We fully expect that director compensation will be appropriately adjusted downward once new independent directors capable of acting in stockholders' best interests are elected to the Board. We are NOT "activist" investors. We have not nominated our director candidates because it fulfills our investment strategy. Even 13D Monitor, a research service specializing in shareholder activism, recently noted that "Neither Ronin Capital nor SW Investment (the "Group") are activist investors…" when commenting on our involvement with the Company. Instead, we are simply stockholders who saw a great opportunity to grow Peregrine over the long-run, but realized that change was desperately needed to address the Company's troubling corporate governance practices & strategic miscues. We saw an excellent chance to create value for all stockholders and send a resounding message that poor corporate governance, mismanagement and anything less than the highest ethical standards will no longer be tolerated at Peregrine. We are here to provide a voice for frustrated stockholders and show that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the Company's customers & employees. Facing the stark reality that their lengthy tenure of unjustifiably high compensation may be coming to an end, we caution the incumbent Board members against taking any action to further entrench themselves or otherwise to the detriment of the Company. Any attempts by the incumbents to delay the upcoming annual meeting, further enrich themselves, or engage in a material transaction without stockholder approval will not be tolerated. We encourage you to let Mr. King and the other members of the Board know that you feel the same way. We look forward to disrupting the culture of entrenchment and seeking the election of our highly-qualified indep. candidates, Gregory P. Sargen, Brian W. Scanlan and Saiid Zarrabian, at the upcoming 2017 annual meeting of stockholders.
Regards,
John S. Stafford III - RONIN TRADING, LLC
Stephen White - SW Investment Mgt. LLC
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CERTAIN INFORMATION CONCERNING THE PARTICIPANTS
Ronin Trading intends to file a preliminary proxy statement and an accompanying proxy card with the SEC to be used to solicit votes for the election of its slate of 3 highly qualified director nominees at the 2017 annual meeting of stockholders Peregrine.
RONIN STRONGLY ADVISES ALL STOCKHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER PROXY MATERIALS AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. SUCH PROXY MATERIALS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT http://www.sec.gov ...
The participants in the solicitation are Ronin Trading, John S. Stafford, III, SWIM Partners LP, SW Investment Mgt. LLC, Stephen White, Gregory P. Sargen, Brian W. Scanlan, and Saiid Zarrabian.
As of the date hereof, Ronin Trading directly beneficially owned 3,310,651 shares… Mr. White, as the Mgr. of SW Mgt., may be deemed to beneficially own the 641,795 shares… As of the date hereof, Messrs. Sargen, Scanlan, and Zarrabian did not beneficially own any securities of the Company.
Investor Contact: Stephen White, SW Investment Mgt. LLC, 312- 765-7033
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7-13-17: Ronin & SW-Invest Issue Letter to Stockholders of Peregrine Pharmaceuticals
* Believe Change is Desperately Needed to Peregrine's Board Given Current Strategy, Poor Corporate Governance, Apparent Misalignment of Interests with Stockholders, and Constant Dilution
* Announces Nomination of Gregory P. Sargen, Brian W. Scanlan, and Saiid Zarrabian for Election at Upcoming 2017 Annual Meeting
CHICAGO, July 13, 2017, PR Newswire:
Ronin Trading, LLC [John Stafford III] and SW Investment Mgt. LLC [Stephen White] (together with the other participants in their solicitation, "Ronin"), collectively the 2nd largest stockholder of Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PPHM), with aggregate beneficial ownership of approx. 8.8% of the Company's outstanding shares of common stock, today issued a letter to Peregrine's stockholders.
In the letter, Ronin announced that it has formally nominated 3 independent, highly-qualified candidates, Gregory P. Sargen, Brian W. Scanlan, and Saiid Zarrabian, for election to the Company's Board of Directors at the Company's upcoming 2017 annual meeting of stockholders [~Oct. 12, 2017].
As explained in the letter, Ronin believes that there are opportunities to increase stockholder value; however, Ronin is concerned that stockholders will continue to suffer unless the Board is reconstituted with directors who will represent stockholders' best interests. The full text of the letter follows. . .
FULL LETTER w/Charts: http://tinyurl.com/y96wtrdb (PRNewswire)
7-13-17/Schd14A Proxy: http://tinyurl.com/y7tx3mv3 (14A)
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7-13-17: Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Issues Statement Regarding Ronin Trading & SW Investment Mgt.'s Letter to Stockholders
http://ir.peregrineinc.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1033161
TUSTIN, July 13, 2017: Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PPHM) today confirmed that Ronin Trading, LLC and SW Investment Mgt. LLC (together, "Ronin/SWIM") submitted 3 candidates for election to the Peregrine Board of Directors at the Company's Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The Company issued the following statement on Ronin/SWIM's nomination of directors and its letter to the Peregrine stockholders:
"Peregrine welcomes the input of our stockholders and is committed to maintaining a highly qualified Board to lead the company forward. We respect the right of stockholders to nominate directors and our Board follows a defined process to evaluate any potential nominees. Our Nominating Committee will carefully evaluate Ronin/SWIM's nominees consistent with that process. Following the Committee's review, it will make a recommendation to the Board that is in the best interests of Peregrine and all of our stockholders. Stockholders need take no action at this time.
"We are actively engaged in an ongoing dialogue with our stockholders and welcome their constructive input on how we can further strengthen the company. We have engaged in various discussions with representatives of Ronin Trading and SW Investment Mgt. and welcome a constructive dialogue toward enhancing value.
"Peregrine's Board, which has a deep understanding of the Company's R&D and CDMO business lines, has been actively involved in setting and overseeing a strategy that has delivered meaningful growth over the past five years in our CDMO business and promising progress in our R&D efforts while substantially reducing R&D spend.
"Our Board is committed to maximizing value for all stockholders. Peregrine will continue to evaluate stockholder input, assess opportunities and make decisions to achieve this objective."
ABOUT PEREGRINE PHARMACEUTICALS (snip)
MEDIA CONTACTS: John Christiansen / Matt Reid, Sard Verbinnen & Co, (415) 618-8750 / (310) 201-2040 http://www.sardverb.com
INVESTOR CONTACTS: Stephanie Diaz, Vida Strategic Partners, (415) 675-7401
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7-14-17/13D(COMMON+PREFERRED): Ronin/SWPartners adds 34,891/Common + 3,600/Pref. Jun29-Jul7 http://tinyurl.com/ybra4s69
6-29-17: SWIM adds 14,286 Common @4.01
6-29-17: SW-Invest adds 7,143 Common @4.01
7-7-17: SWIM adds 8,974 Common @3.91
7-7-17: SW-Invest adds 4,486 Common @3.91
7-7-17: Ronin adds 3,600 Preferred @22.00
**NOTE 2nd 7-14-17 13D: http://tinyurl.com/y7tcoqja – documents the 7-12-17 letter from Ronin to PPHM nominating Gregory P. Sargen, Brian W. Scanlan, Saiid Zarrabian for election to PPHM’s BOD the upcoming ~10-12-17 ASM., as well as the 7-13-17 Ronin PR.
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7-13-17: Ronin/SW-Invest Letter to Stockholders; PPHM Comments http://tinyurl.com/ybr8ycbp
6-29-17/13D: Group Ronin/SWIM adds 7,143sh. on 6-21-17, bringing total Common to 3,766,248, 8.4% of Common O/S (45,069,188 at 7-10-17). http://tinyurl.com/y9sp8bfv (13D filed June29)
….See the 13D for the one purchase of 7,143sh. of COMMON by SWIM Partners (Stephen White) on 6-21-17 at $4.10. 13D triggering event: On 6-27-17, Mr. Stafford (sole, indirect beneficial owner) transferred all his 3,306,366sh./Common (which includes 132,975 shares of Common issuable upon conv. of 111,699/Preferred x8.333/7) from Ronin Capital LLC to Ronin Trading LLC.
6-20-17/13D(COMMON ONLY): Group Ronin/SWIM adds 378,170 (Mar10-June16), bringing total Common to 3,759,105, 8.8% of Common O/S(42,529,925 at 3-10-17). http://tinyurl.com/y76q5rqu (13D filed June20)
….See the 13D for the 23 purchases of 378,170sh. of COMMON by Ronin+SW 3-10-17 thru 6-17-17. (prices range from 3.57 – 4.97)
5-19-17/13D(PREFERRED ONLY): Group Ronin/SWIM adds 23,140 (May1-May17), bringing total Preferred to 123,499, 7.5% of Preferred O/S(1,647,760 at 1-31-17). http://tinyurl.com/mgnn92x (13D filed May19)
…...On May1, 2017, Ronin Capital pur. 7,200 sh. Preferred @$22.51
…...On May15, 2017, Ronin Capital pur. 4,740 sh. Preferred @$22.20
…...On May17, 2017, Ronin Capital pur. 4,700 sh. Preferred @22.04
…...On May12, 2017, SW-InvestMgt pur. 700 sh. Preferred @$21.15
…...On May17, 2017, SW-InvestMgt pur. 1,120 sh. Preferred @$22.07
…...On May12, 2017, SWIM-Partners pur. 1,800 sh. Preferred @$22.15
…...On May17, 2017, SWIM-Partners pur. 2,880 sh. Preferred @$22.07
TOTAL OWNED 5-19-17: Ronin=111,699, SW-InvestMgt=3,120, SWIM-Partners=8,680 =>GROUP=123,499sh.
4-17-17/13D(PREFERRED ONLY): Ronin adds 23,334 (Mar28-Apr10), bringing total Group Preferred to 100,359, 6.1% of Preferred O/S(1,647,760 at 1-31-17).
http://tinyurl.com/lanjddc (13D filed Apr17)
…...On Mar28, 2017, Ronin Capital pur. 1,807 sh. Preferred @$21.60
…...On Apr6, 2017, Ronin Capital pur. 5,817 sh. Preferred @$22.16
…...On Apr7, 2017, Ronin Capital pur. 10,510 sh. Preferred @22.06
…...On Apr10, 2017, Ronin Capital pur. 5,200 sh. Preferred @$21.96
TOTAL OWNED 4-17-17: Ronin=95,059, SW-InvestMgt=1,300, SWIM-Partners=4,000 =>GROUP=100,359sh.
3-10-17/13D(COMMON+PREFERRED): Ronin adds ~3mm/Common & 25,661/Preferred Mar2-9. Group ownership now: 3,380,934/common and 77,025/preferred. http://tinyurl.com/ydxra96u
3-2-17/13D#1(COMMON+PREFERRED Combined): Ronin(John Stafford III) & SW-Partners/SWIM(Stephen White) accum. all of their common & preferred from 1/20/17 – 3/1/17. Group ownership now: 2,947,425/common and 51,364/preferred. http://tinyurl.com/jr42u23
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NOTES/13D: "Each share of Preferred Stock is convertible into a #shares of Common determined by dividing the liquidation preference of $25/sh. by the conv. price, currently $21.00/sh. (8.333/7=1.19048). The Group for purposes of 13D also holds 5% or more of the Common Stock of Peregrine as reported in its separate 13D filed on Mar. 2, 2017, amended Mar. 8, 2017.”
NOTES:
* 13D Group: “people that share the furtherance of a common objective/concerted action”.
* 13D’s are reserved for ACTIVE INVESTORS who may be “interested in agitating for some kind of a change at the company”.
* See John Stafford III/XENCOR BOD(18yrs service): http://tinyurl.com/hcmsv8p
* Ronin Capital LLC: http://www.ronin-capital.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/ronin-capital
* For calc’ing total stake (Common+Preferred), using curr. conv. rate of 8.333/7=~1.19 sh./Common per one share of Series E Convertible Preferred.
ALL SEC filings for PPHM: http://tinyurl.com/6d4jw8
Inst. Holdings (Nasdaq.com) - updated qtly, 45-days after each q/e cutoff: http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/pphm/institutional-holdings
