Sidus Investment Management and BLR Partners Issue Statement in Response to Acacia Research Corporation
PR Newswire PR NewswireMarch 21, 2018
NEW YORK, March 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sidus Investment Management, LLC and BLR Partners LP (together, "Sidus," "we" or "us"), collectively one of the largest stockholders of Acacia Research Corporation ("Acacia" or the "Company") (ACTG), with aggregate ownership of approximately 4.1% of the Company's outstanding shares, today issued a statement in response to the Company's letter to stockholders this morning.
Despite the Company's long-winded attempt to explain away the valid concerns raised in our letter to stockholders yesterday, Acacia's response conspicuously fails to address the paramount issue of concern to most stockholders – the precipitous decline in Acacia's stock price. Acacia's stock price has underperformed the NASDAQ Composite Index by approximately 66% since Louis Graziadio's appointment as Executive Chairman,1 not to mention that it has declined by approximately 92% from its peak during Mr. Graziadio's tenure as a director.2 It is apparent to us that the market is unimpressed by the Company's prospects under Mr. Graziadio's leadership and we believe that he must be held accountable for the destruction of stockholder value that has occurred.
Since receiving our nominations, Acacia today purports to disavow the April 9th record date and June 7th meeting date for the 2018 Annual Meeting that Acacia had previously set up at Broadridge Financial Solutions. Nevertheless, these dates still appear on Broadridge's system as of today.
Any attempts by the incumbents to delay the 2018 Annual Meeting or otherwise entrench themselves will not be tolerated. We caution the Company that we will take legal action to compel the holding of the 2018 Annual Meeting, if necessary, so that stockholders have the opportunity to replace Mr. Graziadio and Frank Walsh, the other incumbent director up for election, without needless delay.
Contacts
Clifford Press
(212) 277-5635
Alfred V. Tobia Jr.
(212) 751-6644
