Voss Comments on Griffon's Confirmation of Involvement in Candidate Withdrawals
HOUSTON, Jan. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Voss Capital, LLC ("Voss"), a significant shareholder of Griffon Corp. (NYSE: GFF) ("Griffon" or the "Company"), today issued a statement regarding Griffon's admission of the Company's involvement in the withdrawal of Voss's two director nominees.
Voss's previous suspicions of Griffon's involvement in the withdrawals of our candidates have now been confirmed by the Company itself in its most recent letter. Two of Voss's nominees underwent a lengthy approval process conducted by their employers' executives and compliance departments, including at the parent company level. We have confirmation of the approval they received from their respective employers BEFORE accepting their nomination for Griffon's Board. However, several weeks after the public announcement of their candidacy, their respective employers revoked their approval. Neither employer was able to provide a reason for the reversal at the time, but now we know why.
Griffon expressly admitted in their letter released on January 27, 2022, that they did indeed contact the employers of our candidates. We find it highly unusual that Griffon's "representatives" contacted the parent company of each of our candidates' employers – rather than the actual employers themselves. Surely this is because therein lies the personal connection that they were able to exploit to strong-arm our candidates out of the running.
In yesterday's letter to shareholders, the Company claims we did not correctly vet our candidates. This could not be further from the truth. When we decided to move forward with this process, we commenced a rigorous search for highly qualified candidates. Voss hired executive search firm GLG Research to conduct a comprehensive search based on the specific experience we believed was needed on the Board. We then narrowed our list to 16 different candidates before conducting interviews and deciding on our chosen three.
We would much rather discuss the merits of our plan for value creation as presented in our deck and our candidate's extensive qualifications than engage in a tit for tat on past events. However, we cannot allow Griffon to continue its campaign of misinformation on this topic. It would appear that Mr. Kramer's boardroom buddies feel the same, as not a single independent director signed the Company's recent letter on behalf of the Board. Unsurprisingly, the only other person to sign the letter besides the CEO was his employee and fellow insider on the Board– COO Robert Mehmel.
The fact that Griffon would go to such extreme lengths to force out our candidates, crossing ethical lines and disregarding shareholders' right to a fair vote in the process, leads us to two conclusions.
- Griffon recognizes the strength in our case for change and is worried that our fellow shareholders will agree with our plan and vote for our candidate.
- Griffon is fully convinced that a truly independent Board nominee would, in fact, make a large difference in the boardroom and are terrified of finally being held accountable to shareholders.
Unfortunately, Griffon's confirmation of tampering with our nominees seems typical, given the Company's history of acting in opposition to shareholder interests. This proxy contest provides shareholders the opportunity to support meaningful change at Griffon and establish a candidate in the boardroom who will prioritize value creation.
If you have already voted Griffon's white proxy card, a later-dated vote on Voss' BLUE proxy card will revoke your previously cast vote.
For more information on our case for change, visit our website RenovateGriffon.com.
Media Contact:
Serena Koontz
Head of Investor Relations
Voss Capital, LLC
serena@vosscap.com
Investor Contact:
John Ferguson
Saratoga Proxy Consulting LLC
jferguson@saratogaproxy.com
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SOURCE Voss Capital
