Providence Service Corporation Files Preliminary Consent Revocation Statement With the SEC
12 February 2009 - 11:29PM
PR Newswire (US)
Consent Revocation Statement Points to Avalon's Ulterior Motives
and Hidden Agenda in Conducting Its Consent Solicitation TUCSON,
Ariz., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Providence Service
Corporation (NASDAQ:PRSC) today announced that it has filed with
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission its preliminary consent
revocation statement in response to the preliminary consent
solicitation statement filed with the SEC late last week by various
affiliates of Avalon Correctional Services, Inc. (Pink Sheets:
CITY.PK), including Donald E. Smith, its controlling stockholder,
sole director and Chief Executive Officer. Providence today also
announced that it is calling upon Avalon and Don Smith to withdraw
their consent solicitation statement and terminate their
self-interested, costly, distracting and disruptive consent
solicitation against Providence so management can return its full
attention to delivering on Providence's significant potential and
enhancing value for ALL Providence stockholders. "We are at a
complete loss to understand, how anyone, including Don Smith, could
believe that initiating a costly, distracting and disruptive
consent solicitation against Providence is in the best interest of
ALL Providence stockholders," commented Fletcher McCusker, Chief
Executive Officer of Providence. "Unfortunately, the only one who
has any potential to benefit from this disruptive, distracting and
costly endeavor is Don Smith, who has already more than doubled his
original investment since acquiring his first share in Providence
this past October. While we would much prefer to focus our time
elsewhere such as our numerous ongoing initiatives to enhance
stockholder value, we will not be intimidated or bullied into
acceding to the demands of ONE dissident stockholder group seeking
to further its own personal agenda. The Providence Board and
management strongly believe that Providence must be run like any
other public company - for the benefit of ALL stockholders - and
are committed to doing just that. We are very confident that
Providence is moving in the right direction. "As we detail in our
consent revocation statement, we believe that Avalon is conducting
its consent solicitation for ulterior motives and in pursuit of a
narrow and self-serving agenda that has not been publicly
disclosed. We have no doubt that Avalon's consent solicitation is
designed to disingenuously portray Avalon as being concerned with
our corporate governance and as the champions of their fellow
stockholders, when in reality Avalon's consent solicitation is part
of an integrated and much larger plan to obtain substantial
influence and effective control over Providence disproportionate to
its current investment (to date, approximately $3.1 million), and
in such a way that would be economically disadvantageous and very
unfair to our other stockholders. "If Don Smith intends to pursue
his disruptive and distracting consent solicitation against
Providence, we are happy to contrast for our stockholders our
public record of acting in the best interest of ALL stockholders
and taking tangible steps to enhance stockholder value with his
record at Avalon. As we announced late last year, our Board of
Directors is actively focused on several strategic options to
enhance shareholder value including, among other things, delevering
our debt, growing our core social services business and selling
certain non-strategic assets. To date, the only suggestion we have
received from Avalon and Don Smith has been a self-interested,
one-sided investment proposal that would have allowed Avalon to
substantially increase its equity ownership in Providence in a way
that would be dilutive, unfair and economically disadvantageous to
the other Providence stockholders, and would provide Avalon with
voting rights in Providence disproportionate to its economic
investment. Our Board, after due consideration, rejected such a
transaction as not being in the best interests of ALL Providence
stockholders. "Given Don Smith's record of operating Avalon like it
was his own personal property and his very public record of taking
actions, such as voluntarily delisting from Nasdaq and terminating
the registration of Avalon's shares, so as to avoid being required
to comply with the corporate governance and public disclosure
requirements imposed by Nasdaq and the SEC, he has little to no
credibility as a champion of corporate governance and, most
importantly, little or no credibility of acting in the best
interest of ALL stockholders. To examine Don Smith's record in
detail as we have, stockholders need look no further than the
numerous public filings made with the SEC by Avalon. Avalon's
various SEC filings, including its annual reports and annual
meeting proxy statements are replete with detailed discussions of
the numerous related-party transactions that Don Smith and his
affiliated companies have engaged in with Avalon since Avalon was
first founded. They also provide a very clear roadmap of the steps
Don Smith and Avalon took so that they no longer have to comply
with the corporate governance and public disclosure requirements
imposed by Nasdaq and the SEC that are intended for the protection
of ALL stockholders. "On behalf of ALL Providence stockholders, we
urge Don Smith to consider our request to withdraw his consent
solicitation statement and terminate his disruptive, distracting
and costly consent solicitation before it reaches an acrimonious
and costly contest that does nothing to help us all further the
growth of stockholder value. "We remain open to listening to any
ideas and suggestions Don Smith may have on how we may continue to
enhance stockholder value, but his costly, distracting and
disruptive consent solicitation and his pursuit of his own
self-interested agenda that would be detrimental to our broader
stockholder base, does not advance our ability to constructively
engage with him and have those discussions. We look forward to a
positive response from Don Smith so that we may move beyond this
unnecessary distraction and return our full attention to delivering
on Providence's very significant potential and enhancing value for
ALL Providence stockholders." Providence also announced today that,
in connection with its intended solicitation of consent
revocations, it has retained the law firm of Blank Rome LLP as its
legal advisor and Innisfree M&A Incorporated as its solicitor
for consent revocations. Important Information The Providence
Service Corporation (the "Company") and its directors and certain
executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the
solicitation of consent revocations from stockholders in connection
with a consent solicitation by affiliates of Avalon Correctional
Services, Inc. (the "Consent Solicitation"). The Company has filed
a preliminary consent revocation statement with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the "SEC") relating to the solicitation of
consent revocations in connection with the Consent Solicitation
(the "Consent Revocation Statement"). Information regarding the
interests of such potential participants is included in the Consent
Revocation Statement. Promptly after filing its definitive Consent
Revocation Statement with the SEC, the Company will mail the
definitive Consent Revocation Statement and a form of consent
revocation card to each stockholder entitled to deliver a written
consent in connection with the Consent Solicitation. WE URGE
INVESTORS TO READ THE CONSENT REVOCATION STATEMENT (INCLUDING ANY
SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT THE
COMPANY WILL FILE WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE
THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Stockholders will be able
to obtain, free of charge, copies of the Consent Revocation
Statement and any other documents filed by the Company with the SEC
in connection with the Consent Solicitation at the SEC's website at
http://www.sec.gov/. and the Company's website at
http://www.provcorp.com/. About Providence Providence Service
Corporation, through its owned and managed entities, provides home
and community based social services and non-emergency
transportation services management to government sponsored clients
under programs such as welfare, juvenile justice, Medicaid and
corrections. Providence does not own or operate beds, treatment
facilities, hospitals or group homes, preferring to provide
services in the client's own home or other community setting. The
Company provides a range of services through its direct and managed
entities to over 74,000 clients through 870 contracts at September
30, 2008, with an estimated six million individuals eligible to
receive the Company's non-emergency transportation services related
to its LogistiCare operations. Combined, the Company has a nearly
$1 billion book of business including managed entities.
Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains
""forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe,"
"demonstrate," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "should" and
"likely" and similar expressions identify forward-looking
statements. In addition, statements that are not historical should
also be considered forward-looking statements. Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on those forward-looking
statements, which speak only as of the date the statement was made.
Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations
that involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors which may cause actual events to be materially
different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. These factors include, but are not limited to the
global credit crisis, capital market conditions, and other risks
detailed in Providence's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal
year ended December 31, 2007. Providence is under no obligation to
(and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update any of the
information in this press release if any forward-looking statement
later turns out to be inaccurate whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise. DATASOURCE: Providence
Service Corporation CONTACT: Fletcher McCusker, Chairman and CEO,
or Kate Blute, Director of Investor and Public Relations,
+1-520-747-6600, both of Providence Service Corporation; Alison
Ziegler, Cameron Associates, +1-212-554-5469 Web Site:
http://www.provcorp.com/
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