WaterMill Asset Management Sets the Record Straight Following Ziopharm’s Apparent Attempt to Mislead Shareholders & Rewrite...
25 November 2020 - 1:00AM
Business Wire
Issues New Rebuttal Presentation that
Systematically Exposes and Refutes the Distortions in Ziopharm’s
November 19th Deck
Makes Clear That Shareholders Have Been
Continuously Harmed by Value-Destructive Business Decisions Before
and After Ziopharm’s Dissolution of the Intrexon/Precigen Agreement
in 2018
Urges Shareholders to Vote on the
WHITE Consent Card to Reconstitute the
Board with WaterMill’s Three Aligned, Independent and
Highly-Qualified Director Candidates
WaterMill Asset Management Corp. (together with its affiliates,
“WaterMill” or “we”), which collectively with the other
participants in its consent solicitation beneficially owns
approximately 3.3% of the outstanding shares of Ziopharm Oncology,
Inc. (NASDAQ: ZIOP) (“Ziopharm” or the “Company”), today released a
new rebuttal presentation in response to the incumbent Board of
Directors’ (the “Board”) recent attempt to mislead shareholders and
rewrite history regarding Ziopharm’s relationship with Intrexon
Corporation (“Intrexon”), which has been renamed Precigen
Incorporated (“Precigen”). We invite shareholders to download and
view the full presentation here.
As a reminder, WaterMill is seeking to reconstitute Ziopharm’s
eight-member Board by removing four current directors and electing
three highly-qualified and independent individuals: Robert Postma,
Jaime Vieser and Holger Weis. WaterMill encourages shareholders to
consent to all of its proposals on the WHITE consent card. We urge shareholders to
sign, date and return each WHITE consent card they receive.
Robert Postma, Principal and Founder of WaterMill,
commented:
“We believe that Ziopharm’s attempt to mislead shareholders and
rewrite history in its recent presentation only validates our case
for urgent change. Rather than assume accountability for years of
value destruction and finally provide shareholders with a clear
plan for commercializing the Company’s promising science, the
incumbent Board is apparently resorting to peddling distortions
about a 2018 ‘reset’ that has failed to deliver meaningful clinical
progress and put an end to troubling boardroom interconnectivity.
In our view, Ziopharm remains on the road to financial ruin due to
the incumbents’ inability to effectively allocate capital, pursue
revenue-generating opportunities and regain the investment
community’s trust. This is why we are pursuing a shareholder-driven
overhaul of the Board that we believe can lead to a sorely needed
strategic review and infuse necessary ownership perspectives and
accountability into the boardroom. Ziopharm does not need to
continue suffering from a lack of commercial intensity and
financial acumen in the boardroom.
Do not be fooled by the incumbent Board’s apparent
misrepresentation of the facts: the truth is that the Company has
lost 76% of its equity market value over the past five years as
capital has been seemingly wasted on the Intrexon partnership and
carelessly spent on leadership compensation. We contend that the
directors we are seeking to remove have proven that they cannot be
trusted or relied upon to initiate a turnaround. Moreover, Ziopharm
already attempted a self-initiated director refresh in 2018 – since
then, we believe the Board has continued to foster an
anti-shareholder culture defined by poor governance practices and
ill-conceived financing decisions that have blindsided and diluted
shareholders.
Unlike the incumbent Board, my fellow nominees and I will
prioritize business integrity, urgency and transparency in the
boardroom. We believe Ziopharm’s leadership has consistently
disregarded shareholder input, misled investors and dragged the
Company into a financial hole, which is why we felt compelled to
act. We are committed to continuing to invest our energy, resources
and time to help Ziopharm finally realize the true potential of its
science for the benefit of shareholders, providers and
patients.”
***
We urge Ziopharm shareholders to consent to
all five proposals on the WHITE consent card today by signing,
dating and returning it in the postage-paid envelope provided.
Please vote each and every WHITE
consent card you receive since you may own multiple accounts. If
you have already voted a Green revocation card from Ziopharm, a
later-dated vote on the WHITE consent
card will revoke that vote.
December 11, 2020 is our goal for the
submission of written consents. Effectively,
this means that you have until December 11, 2020 to consent to the
proposals.
You may only consent by voting the
WHITE consent card. Please throw away
all Green revocation cards you receive.
***
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201124005618/en/
For Investors:
Saratoga Proxy Consulting LLC John Ferguson / Joe Mills,
212-257-1311 jferguson@saratogaproxy.com /
jmills@saratogaproxy.com
For Media:
Profile Greg Marose / Bela Kirpalani, 347-343-2999
gmarose@profileadvisors.com / bkirpalani@profileadvisors.com
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