CDC Software Board Should Terminate All Affiliations with Mr. Yip or Resign for Breaching Fiduciary Duty, Demands Wynnefield ...
November 22 2011 - 5:33PM
Business Wire
Wynnefield Capital (“Wynnefield”), a long-term investor in CDC
Software Corporation (NASDAQ: CDCS) (“the Company”), today released
a letter demanding that the Company’s Board of Directors (“the
Board”) terminate CEO Peter Yip from all of his offices and
positions with the Company – and that any directors not acting to
do so, should immediately resign their own positions. Wynnefield
calls the following events to the attention of the Company’s
shareholders:
- The New York State Supreme Court
sanctioned CDC Corporation on June 29th for submitting patently
false testimony, willfully disregarding its discovery obligations
and advancing factually and legally unsupportable defenses and
claims – and the Court indicated that it was considering imposing
personal sanctions against Mr. Yip based on his deposition and
affidavit testimony. At the time of the Court Order, Dr. Raymond
Ch’ien was the Chairman of CDC Corporation, and resigned the day
before CDC Corporation filed for voluntary bankruptcy;
- An independent investigation, conducted
by a Special Committee comprised of independent Board members from
the Company and CDC Corporation, recommended Mr. Yip’s removal as
CEO. The Board unanimously determined that “it was not in the best interests of the Company and its
shareholders for Mr. Yip to continue to serve as the Company’s
Chief Executive Officer”; and
- On November 10th, the Company’s
Auditors, Deloitte & Touche (“Deloitte”) resigned because
“Deloitte would not rely upon representations of Mr. Yip or those
influenced or controlled by him...”
On October 12th, facing potential removal, Mr. Yip threatened
legal action against the Board. Immediately following Dr. Lee Lam’s
resignation as Chairman of the Board, on October 16th, at the Board
meeting - then chaired by Dr. Raymond Ch′ien – the Board voted to
allow Mr. Yip to remain with the Company, with Dr. Ch’ien voting
twice, including the decisive vote in favor of Mr. Yip.
Given the findings of the Court, the results of the independent
investigation of the Board and the resignation of the Company’s
independent auditors, clearly the Board has failed to fulfill its
fiduciary duty to the shareholders to terminate Mr. Yip’s service
with the Company. The fact that Dr. Ch’ien – who also serves as
Chairman of Hang Seng Bank, and as an independent director of Swiss
Reinsurance Company and Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange, among other
companies – and another unnamed Board collaborator continue to
protect Mr. Yip is a breach of good governance practices and their
duties of loyalty and care. It’s hard to believe that an individual
of Dr. Ch’ien’s business stature would endorse these questionable
governance practices. Wynnefield believes that the CDC Software
Board must immediately terminate all affiliations with Mr. Yip or
resign their own positions on the Board.
Wynnefield had written to the Board on November 10th, insisting
that the Board act by November 18th. To date, the Board has not yet
acted on Wynnefield’s recommendation.
Full text of Wynnefield’s letter follows:
November 10, 2011
Board of Directors CDC Software Corporation 2002 Summit Boulevard
Atlanta, GA 30319 USA Attn: Dr. Raymond K.F. Ch’ien, Chairman
Dear Members of the Board of Directors:
Following up on our letter to you dated July 16, 2011 on behalf
of Wynnefield Partners Small Cap Value, L.P., Wynnefield Partners
Small Cap Value, L.P.I. and Wynnefield Small Cap Value Offshore
Fund (the “Wynnefield Capital Funds”) which collectively own or
have an economic interest equivalent to 12.3% of the public float
of the Class A Common Stock of CDC Software Corporation (the
“Company”), we write to express our outrage over the Board of
Director’s (the “Board”) failure to adequately address the harm to
our Company caused by Vice Chairman Peter Yip, as documented in our
Company’s 6-K dated October 20, 2011.
To briefly recap events as reported by our Company:
- On June 29, 2011, Judge Charles E.
Ramos, NYS Supreme Court, sanctioned our Company $150,000, having
determined that our Company had submitted “patently false
testimony.” This followed the Judge’s verbal confirmation at the
June 28, 2011 hearing that he was considering imposing personal
sanctions against Mr. Yip, the Company’s then CEO, based upon his
deposition and affidavit testimony.
- In response, the Board formed a Joint
Special Committee (the “Committee”) of independent directors to
investigate the matter, which in turn engaged the highly respected
law firm of Paul Hastings LLP to assist the Committee in its
investigation.
- Although the Board placed Mr. Yip on
administrative leave as CEO pending the results of the
investigation, he was allowed to continue to serve as Vice Chairman
of the Board.
- On October 4, 2011 following the
results of the investigation by Paul Hastings, the Committee
unanimously determined that Mr. Yip provided false testimony under
oath in a legal proceeding and recommended
that he be removed as CEO.
- On October 12, 2011 the Board
unanimously accepted the recommendation of the Committee, found
that Mr. Yip exercised managerial direction while on administrative
leave (another terminable offence) and determined that “it was not in the best interests of the Company and its
shareholders for Mr. Yip to continue to serve as the Company’s
Chief Executive Officer”. [Company’s 6-K dated October 20,
2011, p.4].
Yet, despite the findings of independent counsel, the unanimous
recommendation of the Special Committee, the defiance of a Board
resolution and the unanimous vote of the Board that Mr. Yip had
committed perjury and be removed as the Company’s CEO, in the face
of threatened legal action by Mr. Yip, on October 16, 2011, in what
we can only believe to be acts of supreme cowardice – Dr. Lee Lam
resigned as Chairman of the Board and as a director and was
replaced by Dr. Raymond Ch′ien – and then, abandoning any pretext
of fulfilling their fiduciary duty to all shareholders, the
reconstituted Board then voted 3 to 2 – with Dr. Ch′ien
voting twice – to place Mr. Yip on
“medical leave” as he had requested, while continuing to allow him
to serve (apparently unaffected by his medical disability) as Vice
Chairman of the Board.
Such abdication of the Board’s fiduciary duty is unacceptable to
Wynnefield Capital, just as we believe it is to the other
shareholders – other than Mr. Yip, Dr. Ch’ien and their fellow
collaborator on the Board.
We applaud the courage of those two Board members who have acted
honorably and with firm conviction by appropriately fulfilling
their fiduciary duty by voting in favor of upholding the
termination of Mr. Yip.
We call upon those Board members who voted in favor of granting
Mr. Yip “medical leave” to immediately reconsider their
irresponsible and unacceptable actions, and vote to terminate Mr.
Yip from all of his offices and positions with our Company – or
follow the lead of Dr. Lam and resign.
Should Dr. Ch′ien and the other Board member who has turned a
blind eye to Mr. Yip’s transgressions refuse to follow our
recommendation and fail to publicly announce by Friday, November
18, 2011 that the Board has taken appropriate actions against Mr.
Yip in accordance with the Board’s original determination, we shall
publicly bring our concerns and this letter to the attention of our
Company’s other shareholders.
Very truly yours, Nelson Obus Managing Member & President cc:
Peter Yip, Vice Chairman Chung Kiu Wong, Director Frank K. Au,
Director Sin Just Wong, Director
EDITOR’S NOTE
Within the text of Wynnefield’s letter, the phrase “our Company”
refers to CDC Software.
ABOUT WYNNEFIELD CAPITAL
Wynnefield Capital, Inc., with its affiliates, is a long-term
shareholder of CDC Software Corporation, holding or having an
economic interest in approximately 12.3% of the public float of the
Company’s Class A Common Stock. Established in 1992, Wynnefield
Capital is a value investor specializing in U.S. small cap
situations that have company- or industry-specific catalysts.
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