Activist Steps Up Pressure on On Deck Capital
April 13 2017 - 4:42PM
Dow Jones News
By Peter Rudegeair
An activist investor pushing for a new direction at On Deck
Capital Inc. intensified his campaign on Thursday, asking other
shareholders to join him in voting against re-electing three board
members at the online small-business lender's annual meeting next
month.
Marathon Partners Equity Management LLC, which owned 1.75% of On
Deck's shares as of the end of 2016 according to FactSet data, also
publicly released the text of a letter it sent to the company's
board and lead independent director in March urging them to slash
expenses and explore a possible sale of the business.
"I haven't sensed an urgency for change," said Mario Cibelli, a
managing partner at Marathon, in an interview. "We would encourage
other shareholders to consider supporting our vote to send a strong
signal to the board and management team."
The three directors up for re-election are Noah Breslow, who
also serves as On Deck's chief executive; Jane Thompson, a former
financial-services executive at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.; and Ron
Verni, a former CEO of Sage Software Inc.
A spokesman for On Deck said in an emailed statement that it
welcomes open communications with all stockholders and values
constructive input. He added that members of the On Deck board and
management team met with Marathon on several occasions.
On Deck's shares, which fell 3.3% Thursday afternoon, are down
more than 35% over the past 12 months following the reporting of
wider losses and cooler investor demand for its loans.
"The market values OnDeck as a subscale commercial lender with
no technology advantage or domain expertise, even as the Company's
cost structure remains elevated and resembles that of a prized
technology concern," Mr. Cibelli said in the letter to the
company's board dated March 15.
Write to Peter Rudegeair at Peter.Rudegeair@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 13, 2017 16:27 ET (20:27 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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