By Greg Hazley
International Game Technology and Ader Investment Management are relying on outside PR and proxy solicitation counsel as Ader pushes a slate of nominees, led by a former IGT CEO, to the casino technology company's board.
Ader, which is working with 5W PR and Innisfree M&A, this week backed off plans to nominate AIM head Jason Ader on a slate of four directors for the IGT board, but said he still intends to offer a "short slate" of three directors., including former IGT chairman and CEO Charles Mathewson.
Shares of IGT, which are in a three-year slump, are trading in the middle of a $10.92-18.10 52-week range. Fiscal 2012 revenue was $2.15B on net income of $245.9M. IGT bought social gaming company Double Down Interactive last year for $500M.
Ader says the company is "deeply undervalued" because of poor management and a lack of focus on its core slot machine technology business. He owns three percent of the company's outstanding shares.
Las Vegas-based IGT, which has engaged Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher and MacKenzie Partners for the proxy fight, is urging shareholders to back its slate of eight directors who stand behind a turnaround strategy.
IGT said it believes Ader's fight is a part of a long-running dispute with Mathewson, with whom the company severed ties in 2010, and thinks his slate would pursue an agenda "not in the best interests of all IGT shareholders." |