Mo, 5. Feb. 2024
SoftwareOne’s Founders Seek Control, Eyeing Private Growth.
The battle for the future of IT service provider SoftwareOne is entering the next round. The founding shareholders, who hold almost 30 percent of the company, are demanding an extraordinary general meeting and want to appoint a new Board of Directors.
Daniel von Stockar, René Gilli and B. Curti Holding do not agree with the conclusions drawn by the Board of Directors from the strategy review, according to a statement issued by the founding shareholders on Monday.
In mid-January, the Central Swiss company rejected a takeover bid from US private equity firm Bain Capital, which amounted to CHF 18.80 per share. SoftwareOne explained at the time that it wanted to remain an independent and listed company.
The founding shareholders are now arguing that the non-binding offer from Bain Capital should have been presented to the shareholders. They are therefore demanding that an Extraordinary General Meeting be held and that the entire Board of Directors be voted out of office.
The exception: founding shareholder Daniel von Stockar is to remain on the Board of Directors. After all, he was not involved in the evaluation of the Bain offer. Von Stockar is to return as Chairman of the Board of Directors and founding shareholder René Gilli is to become a normal member of the Board of Directors.
The founding shareholders are “convinced that the best conditions are in place for the next phase of SoftwareOne’s growth in a private environment”.
SoftwareOne’s Board of Directors has received the proposal and will review it, the company announced. A statement will be issued “in due course” and further information will be made available.
SoftwareOne will present its 2023 annual financial statements on February 15, and the Annual General Meeting is scheduled for May 2.
The “rebels” are proposing Annabella Bassler, Jörg Riboni, Andrea Sieber and Till Spillmann as new independent members of the Board of Directors. Sieber is to act as Vice Chairman and Lead Independent Director.
Bassler has been CFO at media company Ringier since 2012, Riboni was previously CFO at Emmi and Forbo, among others, and Sieber is a partner at Swiss law firm MLL Legal AG. Finally, Spillmann is a co-founder and partner at Argon Management AG, a private investment company.
SoftwareOne shares subsequently rise significantly on the stock exchange. At around 10.45 a.m., they gained 6.3 percent to 16.79 francs. But even at the day’s high (CHF 17.32), they did not reach the CHF 18.80 that Bain had once offered.
©Keystone/SDA
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