NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- RESI
Shareholders Group, a group with aggregate ownership of
approximately 3% of the outstanding shares of Altisource
Residential Corporation ("RESI" or the "Company") (NYSE: RESI),
announced today that it has nominated three independent,
highly-qualified director candidates to RESI's Board of Directors
(the "Board") at the Company's upcoming 2016 annual meeting of
stockholders expected to be held in May (the "Annual Meeting").
RESI previously raised over $1
billion in capital by convincing investors it had a
differentiated approach to becoming a single-family rental REIT
through the acquisition of sub-performing and non-performing loan
portfolios and converting them to rental properties. The
abrupt strategy shift to acquiring homes directly is the antithesis
of the stated strategy and leaves RESI at a competitive
disadvantage. Compounding the strategic misstep is the
recently amended external management agreement with Altisource
Asset Management Corporation ("AAMC") which provides distorted
incentives to pursue this strategy regardless of the outcome for
RESI shareholders and encourages ongoing conduct by RESI that is
contrary to public policy. As a result, RESI's stock price
has declined dramatically over the past year and currently trades
at 43% of tangible book value, a significant discount to its peer
group. Given these circumstances, the Board is urged to
immediately evaluate all paths to restoring shareholder value and
to cease any plans to purchase homes or make other acquisitions.
Given that management and the Board appear conflicted by the AAMC
management agreement, we feel compelled to remind the Board of its
duty to act in the best interest of RESI shareholders.
Nominee Clifford Press commented
"The precipitous decline in the share price of RESI demonstrates
shareholders' abhorrence at this Board's conduct and abrogation of
its fiduciary oversight. It is our belief that a highly
qualified, independent Board will be able to implement a value
enhancing business model, restore investor confidence and recover
value for shareholders. In light of the market's unambiguous
reaction to their conduct, the current Board must refrain from
taking any further steps to implement their failed strategy until
truly independent and qualified directors have been elected. In
particular, the Board should not authorize any transaction to
purchase houses, directly or indirectly, that generates further
egregious payments to external management under the skewed
management agreement."
The nominees are:
Andrew L. Platt - Vice
Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Sprout Mortgage
Corporation, an investment conduit focused on non-agency eligible
residential mortgages, since January
2015. He previously served in a number of advisory and
banking roles for mortgage and finance platforms, including
Hamilton Equity Partners, LLC (2014), Vanguard Mortgage (2013) and
Auction.com, LLC (2012). From August
2012 to January 2013, Mr.
Platt served as the Managing Director and Head of Business
Development of MountainView Capital Group, LLC, a provider of
analytic and trading services to financial institutions in
mortgage-related business lines. From October 2011 to February
2012, Mr. Platt served as the Managing Director and Head of
Specialty Finance of Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., a financial
services company. Previously, Mr. Platt held multiple roles
with UBS Group AG, a global financial services company, including
Executive Director of the Financial Institutions Group at UBS
Investment Bank, from September 2007
to September 2011, where he
specialized in covering residential mortgage originators,
residential and commercial mortgage REITS, banks and other
specialty finance companies, and Director of Global Asset Backed
Finance at UBS Securities LLC, from June
2006 to August 2007, where he
was responsible for origination, structuring and execution of
single seller securitization conduits. Mr. Platt served as a
Principal/Executive Director of Global Structured Finance at Banc
of America Securities LLC, a subsidiary of Bank of America Corp.,
from April 2005 to April 2006.
He also served as Vice President of Residential Mortgage Finance at
Lehman Brothers Inc. from June 2000
to April 2005. Mr. Platt holds an M.B.A from Fordham University, a J.D. from New York Law School
and a B.A. in Government from Skidmore
College. He is a member of the Bar of the State of New York and is a FINRA Series 7 and
63 license holder. We believe that Mr. Platt's experience
with the real estate industry, including his expertise in the
mortgage industry, will make him a valuable addition to the
Board.
Clifford Press - Managing
Member of Oliver Press Partners, LLC, an investment advisory firm,
since March 2005. From 1986 to March
2003, Mr. Press served as a General Partner of Hyde Park
Holdings, Inc., a private equity investment firm. From March 2008 to November
2009, Mr. Press served as a director and member of the
Governance & Nominating Committee of Coherent Inc., a
manufacturer of laser based photonic products. From
December 2011 to February 2013, Mr. Press served as a director and
member of the Compensation Committee of SeaBright Holdings, Inc., a
holding company whose wholly-owned subsidiary, SeaBright Insurance
Company, operates as a specialty provider of multi-jurisdictional
workers' compensation insurance. From 2001 to June 2011, Mr. Press served as a director of GM
Network Ltd., a private holding company providing Internet-based
digital currency services. Mr. Press received his MA degree
from Oxford University and an MBA
degree from Harvard Business School.
We believe that Mr. Press's financial expertise and over 25
years of experience investing in a broad range of public and
private companies together with his public company board experience
would make him well qualified to serve on the Board.
Joshua E. Schechter -
private investor. Mr. Schechter has also served as a director
of Viad Corp, an S&P SmallCap 600 international experiential
services company, since April 2015,
where he also serves as a member of its Corporate Governance &
Nominating Committee. He previously served as a director of Aderans
Co., Ltd. ("Aderans"), a multi-national company engaged in
hair-related business, and as the Executive Chairman of Aderans
America Holdings, Inc., Aderans' holding company in the United States, from August 2008 to May
2015. From 2001 to June 2013,
Mr. Schechter served as Managing Director of Steel Partners Ltd., a
privately owned hedge fund sponsor, and from 2008 to June 2013, Mr. Schechter served as co-President
of Steel Partners Japan Asset Management, LP, a private company
offering investment services. Mr. Schechter previously served on
the Board of Directors of The Pantry, Inc., a leading independently
operated convenience store chain in the southeastern United States and one of the largest
independently operated convenience store chains in the country,
where he was a member of its Corporate Governance & Nominating
and Audit & Financial Committees, from March 2014 until the completion of its sale in
March 2015; WHX Corporation (n/k/a
Handy & Harman Ltd.), a diversified manufacturer of engineered
niche industrial products with leading market positions in many of
the markets it serves, from 2005 until 2008; and Puroflow, Inc.
(n/k/a Argan, Inc.), a provider of a full range of power industry
and telecommunications infrastructure services, from 2001 until
2003. Mr. Schechter earned an MPA in Professional Accounting, and a
BBA from The University of Texas at
Austin. We believe that Mr. Schechter's financial and
investment experience in a variety of industries, together with his
significant experience serving on a number of public company
boards, makes him well qualified to serve on the Board.
CERTAIN INFORMATION CONCERNING THE PARTICIPANTS
BLR Partners LP, together with the other participants named
herein (collectively, "RESI Shareholders Group"), intends to file a
preliminary proxy statement and an accompanying proxy card with the
Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") to be used to solicit
votes for the election of its slate of three highly-qualified
director nominees at the 2016 annual meeting of stockholders of
Altisource Residential Corporation, a Maryland corporation (the "Company").
RESI SHAREHOLDERS GROUP STRONGLY ADVISES ALL SHAREHOLDERS 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 NO CHARGE ON
THE SEC'S WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SEC.GOV. IN ADDITION, THE
PARTICIPANTS IN THIS PROXY SOLICITATION WILL PROVIDE COPIES OF THE
PROXY STATEMENT WITHOUT CHARGE, WHEN AVAILABLE, UPON REQUEST.
REQUESTS FOR COPIES SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO THE PARTICIPANTS' PROXY
SOLICITOR.
The participants in the solicitation are BLR Partners LP ("BLR
Partners"), BLRPart, LP ("BLRPart GP"), BLRGP Inc. ("BLRGP"),
Fondren Management, LP ("Fondren Management"), FMLP Inc. ("FMLP"),
The Radoff Family Foundation ("Radoff Foundation"), Bradley L. Radoff, OP Select Fund, L.P. ("OP
Select"), Oliver Press Investors, LLC ("Oliver Press Investors"),
Oliver Press Partners, LLC ("Oliver Press Partners"), Augustus K. Oliver II, Clifford Press, Andrew
L. Platt and Joshua E.
Schechter.
As of the date hereof, BLR Partners owned directly 1,251,881
shares of Common Stock. BLRPart GP, as the general partner of
BLR Partners, may be deemed to beneficially own the 1,251,881
shares owned by BLR Partners. BLRGP, as the general partner
of BLRPart GP, may be deemed to beneficially own the 1,251,881
shares owned by BLR Partners. Fondren Management, as the
investment manager of BLR Partners, may be deemed to beneficially
own the 1,251,881 shares owned by BLR Partners. FMLP, as the
general partner of Fondren Management, may be deemed to
beneficially own the 1,251,881 shares owned by BLR Partners.
As of the date hereof, Radoff Foundation owned directly 25,000
shares of Common Stock. As of the date hereof, Mr. Radoff
owned directly 377,964 shares of Common Stock and, as the sole
shareholder and sole director of each of BLRGP and FMLP and a
director of Radoff Foundation, may be deemed to beneficially own
the 1,251,881 shares owned by BLR Partners and the 25,000 shares
owned by the Radoff Foundation. As of the date hereof, OP Select
owned directly 8,000 shares of Common Stock. Oliver Press
Investors, as the general partner of OP Select, may be deemed to
beneficially own the 8,000 shares owned by OP Select. Oliver Press
Partners, as the investment manager of OP Select, may be deemed to
beneficially own the 8,000 shares owned by OP Select. Each of
Messrs. Oliver and Press, as a managing member of Oliver Press
Investors and Oliver Press Partners, may be deemed to beneficially
own the 8,000 shares owned by OP Select. As of the date hereof, Mr.
Schechter beneficially owned 9,000 shares of Common Stock. As
of the date hereof, Mr. Platt does not beneficially own any shares
of Common Stock.
Investor Contact:
Clifford Press
(212) 277-5635
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SOURCE RESI Shareholders Group