Starboard Value LP (together with its affiliates, “Starboard” or
“we”) is the largest shareholder of Algonquin Power & Utilities
Corp. (NYSE: AQN) (TSE: AQN) (“Algonquin” or the “Company”) with an
ownership stake of approximately 9.0%. Today, Starboard announced
that it has nominated three highly qualified candidates (the
“Starboard Nominees”) for election to the Company’s Board of
Directors (the “Board”) at the 2024 Annual General Meeting of
Shareholders (the “Annual Meeting”), which has been scheduled for
June 4, 2024. The Starboard Nominees are Brett Carter, Chris Lopez
and Rob Schriesheim.
In connection with its nominations, Starboard sent the below
letter to the members of the Board.
March 21, 2024
Board of Directors Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. 354
Davis Road Oakville, Ontario Canada L6J 2X1
Dear Members of the Board,
As you know, Starboard Value LP (together with its affiliates,
“Starboard”) is the largest shareholder of Algonquin Power &
Utilities Corp. (“Algonquin” or the “Company”), with an ownership
stake of approximately 9.0%. We have spent a significant amount of
time with certain members of the Board of Directors (the “Board”)
and management over the past year. After substantial work on our
part, the Company has made several important changes, such as a
Chief Executive Officer change and initiating a strategic review
that has not yet yielded a positive result. However, this has not
been an easy engagement, with certain influential members of the
Board impeding progress and the majority of the Board either
passive or complicit.
Algonquin is at a critical juncture – it is currently in
the process of selecting its next CEO and is exploring a sale of
its Renewable Energy Group (the “Unregulated Renewables” business).
It is therefore essential that Algonquin have directors with the
expertise, fresh perspective and shareholder-focused mindset to
properly evaluate what may be a wide range of strategic
options.
Unfortunately, the current Board has a long history of making
value-destructive decisions. This is most clearly evidenced by the
Board’s poor succession planning around former CEO Ian Robertson’s
departure, the pursuit of the Kentucky Power acquisition (which,
thankfully, was terminated because it could not receive regulatory
approval), and careless management of the Company’s balance sheet,
which led to a material reduction in the dividend. As a result,
Algonquin’s stock has drastically underperformed its peers.1
Given the critical decisions and processes currently underway to
recruit the next CEO and explore a sale of the Unregulated
Renewables business, we have urged Board leadership for the better
part of a year to work with us to refresh the Board with highly
credentialed directors, including shareholder representatives and
directors with relevant expertise unburdened by the poor decisions
of the past. Unfortunately, these conversations with the Board have
only confirmed our strong view that substantial change is
necessary.
Therefore, we delivered a notice to the Company nominating
highly-qualified director candidates for election at the upcoming
Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, which the Company recently
scheduled for June 4, 2024. At the meeting, we will be seeking to
remove several long-serving directors with a history of presiding
over some of the Company’s most value-destructive decisions and
replace them with new highly-qualified directors who we believe
would add substantial experience in best-in-class utility
operations and complex financial and business transformations, and
who bring a shareholder-focused mindset. Importantly, our proposed
nominees would be acutely focused on smooth execution of the
Unregulated Renewables and Atlantica processes, and would not, in
any way, interfere with a value accretive transaction. To be clear,
we are NOT looking to remove interim-CEO Chris Huskilson from his
position as interim-CEO or from the Board.
We remain open to a constructive resolution, but our engagement
with the Company over the past year has proven to us that new Board
leadership is urgently required. We look forward to working with
the Board and management to renew and strengthen the Board to
oversee the Company’s exciting transformation.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey C. Smith Managing Member Starboard
Value LP
Biographies of Starboard Nominees
Brett C. Carter most recently served as the Executive
Vice President and Group President, Utilities and Chief Customer
Officer of Xcel Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: XEL) (“Xcel”), a major U.S.
electric and natural gas delivery company, from March 2022 to
October 2023. He served as Xcel’s Executive Vice President and
Chief Customer and Innovation Officer from May 2018 to March 2022.
Prior to that, Mr. Carter served as Senior Vice President and
Shared Services Executive, Global Technology and Operations, at
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) (“BAC”), a global financial
services firm, from October 2015 to May 2018, and as Senior Vice
President and Chief Operating Officer, Global Technology and
Operations, at BAC from March 2015 to October 2015. Before joining
BAC, Mr. Carter held several leadership roles at Duke Energy
Corporation (NYSE: DUK) (“Duke”), a major U.S. energy company, from
2005 to 2015, including most recently as Senior Vice President and
Chief Distribution Officer, Duke Energy Operations, from 2013 to
March 2015. Prior to that, he served as President, Duke Energy
Carolinas, as Senior Vice President, Customer Origination and
Customer Service, and Vice President, Residential and Small
Business Customers at Duke. Mr. Carter currently serves as a
director of Graco Inc. (NYSE: GGG), a multi-national manufacturing
company, since February 2021. Mr. Carter holds a B.S. in accounting
from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and an MBA with a
concentration in marketing from the University of Pittsburgh. He
also completed the Harvard Business School Advanced Management
Program.
Christopher Lopez currently serves as Executive Vice
President, Chief Financial and Regulatory Officer at Hydro One
Limited (TSX: H) (“Hydro One”), an electricity transmission and
distribution company, since April 2023. Mr. Lopez joined Hydro One
in 2016 and served as its Chief Financial Officer from May 2019 to
April 2023, Acting Chief Financial Officer from September 2018 to
May 2019 and Senior Vice President, Finance, from 2016 to 2018.
Prior to that, Mr. Lopez served as Vice President, Corporate
Planning and Mergers & Acquisitions at TransAlta Corporation
(TSX: TA) (“TransAlta”), a clean energy solutions company, from
2011 to 2015, as Director of Operations Finance at TransAlta from
2007 to 2011, and in various senior financial roles with TransAlta
from 1999 to 2007. At the start of his career, he worked as a
financial accountant following the completion of the Graduate
Leadership Development Program, with Rio Tinto Group. Mr. Lopez
received a Bachelor of Business degree from Edith Cowan University
in Australia, and he holds a Chartered Accountant designation. He
is a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company
Directors and has completed the CFO Leadership Program at Harvard
Business School.
Robert A. Schriesheim is a multiple time public company
director, CFO and corporate strategist who is an expert in
restructuring and complex financial transactions. Mr. Schriesheim
is currently the Lead Independent Director and Chair of the Audit
Committee at Houlihan Lokey, Inc. (NYSE: HLI), a global investment
bank, and serves on the board of directors of Skyworks Solutions,
Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS), a leading semiconductor products design and
manufacturing company. Mr. Schriesheim has served as chairman of
Truax Partners LLC, a consulting firm, since 2018, through which he
partners with, and advises, boards, CEOs and institutional
investors while serving as a director of public and private
companies undergoing complex transformations. From 2018 until 2021,
he served as a director of Frontier Communications Corporation
(formerly NASDAQ: FTR) (n/k/a Frontier Communications Parent, Inc.
(NASDAQ: FYBR)), a provider of communications services
(“Frontier”), where he served as a member of the Audit Committee
and as chairman of the Finance Committee, overseeing Frontier’s
financial restructuring and reorganization, including its emergence
from Chapter 11 in 2021. Mr. Schriesheim previously served as the
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Sears
Holdings Corporation (formerly NASDAQ: SHLD), an American holding
company, from 2011 until 2016, and as the Chief Financial Officer
of Hewitt Associates, Inc. (formerly NYSE: HEW), a global human
resources consulting and outsourcing company, from 2010 until its
sale in 2010. From 2006 to 2009, he served as Executive Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer of Lawson Software, Inc.
(formerly NASDAQ: LWSN), an ERP software provider and as a board
member from 2006 until its sale in 2011. Prior to that, he was
affiliated with ARCH Development Partners, LLC, a seed stage
venture capital fund and earlier he held executive positions at
Global TeleSystems, SBC Equity Partners, Ameritech, AC Nielsen and
Brooke Group Ltd. From 2015 until its sale in 2019, he served as a
director of NII Holdings, Inc. (formerly NASDAQ: NIHD), a wireless
communications company. From 2018 to 2018, he also served as a
director of Forest City Realty Trust, Inc. (formerly NYSE: FCE.A),
a real estate investment trust, and served as the chair of its
audit committee until its sale to Brookfield Asset Management. From
2007 until its sale in 2009 he served as a director, including as
Co-Chairman, of MSC Software (NASDAQ: MSCS), a provider of
simulation software and from 2004 until its sale in 2007 he served
as a director of Dobson Communications (NASDAQ: DCEL), a rural
cellular provider. He also currently serves as an Adjunct Associate
Professor of Finance at The University of Chicago Booth School of
Business concentrating in the area of corporate governance. Mr.
Schriesheim earned an AB in Chemistry from Princeton University and
an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of
Business.
About Starboard Value LP
Starboard Value LP is an investment adviser with a focused and
differentiated fundamental approach to investing in publicly traded
companies. Starboard invests in deeply undervalued companies and
actively engages with management teams and boards of directors to
identify and execute on opportunities to unlock value for the
benefit of all shareholders.
Information in Support of Public Broadcast
Solicitation
Starboard is relying on the exemption under section 9.2(4) of
National Instrument 51‐102 ‐ Continuous Disclosure Obligations (“NI
51-102”) to make this public broadcast solicitation. The following
information is provided in accordance with corporate and securities
laws applicable to public broadcast solicitations.
This solicitation is being made by Starboard, and not by or on
behalf of the management of Algonquin. The participants in the
solicitation are anticipated to be Starboard Value and Opportunity
Master Fund III LP, Starboard Value and Opportunity S LLC,
Starboard Value and Opportunity C LP, Starboard X Master Fund II
LP, Starboard Value R LP, Starboard Value and Opportunity Master
Fund L LP, Starboard Value L LP, Starboard Value R GP LLC,
Starboard G Fund, L.P., Starboard Value G GP, LLC, Starboard Value
A LP, Starboard Value A GP LLC, Starboard Value LP, Starboard Value
GP LLC, Starboard Principal Co LP, Starboard Principal Co GP LLC,
Peter A. Feld, Jeffrey C. Smith (which persons are collectively
referred to in this section as “Starboard”), and the Starboard
Nominees. The address of Algonquin is 354 Davis Road, Suite 100
Oakville, Ontario L6J 2X1.
Starboard has filed this news release containing the information
required by section 9.2(4)(c) of NI 51-102 and has filed a separate
document containing the information required by Form 51‐102F5 –
Information Circular in respect of the Starboard Nominees, as
required by section 9.2(6) of NI 51-102, on Algonquin’s company
profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.
In connection with the Annual Meeting, Starboard may file a
dissident information circular in due course in compliance with
applicable securities laws and intends to solicit proxies primarily
by mail, but proxies may also be solicited personally by telephone,
e-mail or other electronic means, as well as by newspaper or other
media advertising or in person, by Starboard, certain of its
members, partners, directors, officers and employees, the Starboard
Nominees or Starboard’s agents, including a third party proxy
solicitation agent and tabulation agent to assist with Starboard’s
solicitation and to provide certain advisory and related services.
Such solicitation agent has not yet been retained by Starboard. It
is expected that, upon engagement of such agent, such agent’s
responsibilities will include advising Starboard on governance best
practices, liaising with proxy advisory firms, developing and
implementing shareholder communication and engagement strategies,
advising with respect to meeting and proxy protocol, developing and
implementing shareholder communication and engagement strategies,
mailing of the Annual Meeting materials and vote tabulation.
Starboard will pay such agent a fee to be determined, plus related
expenses. In addition, Starboard may solicit proxies in reliance
upon the public broadcast exemption to the solicitation
requirements under applicable Canadian corporate and securities
laws, conveyed by way of public broadcast, including press release,
speech or publication and any other manner permitted under
applicable Canadian laws. Any members, partners, directors,
officers or employees of Starboard and its affiliates or other
persons who solicit proxies on behalf of Starboard will do so for
no additional compensation.
The costs incurred in the solicitation will be borne by
Starboard. However, to the extent permitted under applicable law,
Starboard may seek reimbursement from Algonquin for Starboard’s
out-of-pocket expenses, including proxy solicitation expenses and
legal fees, incurred in connection with the Annual Meeting.
Although no forms of proxy have been provided at this time, a
registered holder of common shares of Algonquin that gives a proxy
may revoke it by: (a) completing and signing a valid proxy bearing
a later date and returning it in accordance with the instructions
contained in the form of proxy to be provided by Starboard, or as
otherwise provided in the applicable information circular; (b)
depositing an instrument in writing executed by the shareholder or
by the shareholder's attorney authorized in writing, as the case
may be (i) at the registered office of Algonquin at any time up to
and including the last business day preceding the day the Annual
Meeting or any adjournment or postponement thereof is to be held,
or (ii) with the chairman of the Annual Meeting prior to its
commencement on the day of the Annual Meeting or any adjournment or
postponement thereof; or (c) revoking their proxy in any other
manner permitted by law.
Although no forms of proxy have been provided at this time, a
non‐registered holder of common shares of Algonquin will be
entitled to revoke a form of proxy or voting instruction form given
to an intermediary at any time by written notice to the
intermediary in accordance with the instructions given to the
non-registered holder by its intermediary. It should be noted that
revocation of proxies or voting instructions by a non‐registered
holder can take several days or even longer to complete and,
accordingly, any such revocation should be completed well in
advance of the deadline prescribed in the form of proxy or voting
instruction form to ensure it is given effect in respect of the
Annual Meeting.
To the knowledge of Starboard, none of Starboard, or any of its
partners, managing members, directors or officers or any of its
associates or affiliates, nor any of the Starboard Nominees or
their respective associates or affiliates, has any material
interest, direct or indirect, (i) in any transaction since the
beginning of Algonquin's most recently completed financial year or
in any proposed transaction that has materially affected or would
materially affect Algonquin or any of its subsidiaries; or (ii) by
way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise and subject
to Algonquin disclosing the matters proposed to be acted on at the
Annual Meeting, in any matter proposed to be acted on at the Annual
Meeting, other than the election of directors to the Board or the
appointment of the auditors.
_____________________________________ 1Source: Capital IQ.
Market data as of March 20, 2024. Performance is measured as total
shareholder return adjusted for dividends across a 1Y, 3Y, and 5Y
period for AQN vs. the average of its Regulated utility peer group.
Regulated utility peer group includes AEE, AGR, AEP, CMS, CNP, CU,
D, DTE, DUK, ED, EMA, ES, FTS, H, LNT, NEE, PNW, SO, SR, SRE, WEC,
and XEL. Starboard has identified the aforementioned peers as the
relevant peer set. Starboard believes these peers provide
appropriate peer comparisons and align with the Company’s
self-selected peer set as of its January 12, 2023 Investor Update
presentation. This determination is subject to a certain degree of
subjectivity. As the full universe of potential peers is not listed
here, the comparisons made herein may differ materially if other
firms had been included.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240321229237/en/
Investor Contacts Peter Feld, (212) 201-4878 Gavin Molinelli,
(212) 201-4828 www.starboardvalue.com
Media Contacts Longacre Square Partners Greg Marose / Joe
Germani, (646) 386-0091 starboard@longacresquare.com
Algonquin Power (NYSE:AQN)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Déc 2024 à Jan 2025
Algonquin Power (NYSE:AQN)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Jan 2024 à Jan 2025