nkbourbaki wrote: nedstar71 wrote: Its true though. The amount of behind the scenes shenanigans going on that shareholders aren't privy to must be mind boggling. A shakeup is definitely in order. And Mithaq is definitely not the answer.
100%
How do they expect shareholder support, let alone command a decent valuation, when they've proved repeatedly that they cannot be trusted?
Promises of aggressive buybacks turn into an emergency dilutive placement within the span of a few weeks. We're told Trade X is doing well. A few months later we learn it's in receivership. We're told Kognitiv is inflecting and Aimia won't provide any further funding. Then they list Kognitiv's need for capital amongst the reasons for the emergency placement. Who is the placement with? Sorry, that's confidential and can't be shared with the market. But later we learn through discovery that one of the leads is Richard Crandall, c/o Mark Hauser, whose son Eric is a principal at Paladin. What is Paladin? A nascent PE shop that was apparently born in late 2022 and whose only deals are with Aimia. Amazing that amongst all the carnivores in the PE space, this new tiny shop was the only one able to identify Tufropes & Bozetto as fantastic bargains. (Don't let the mediocre late-cycle EBITDA multiples fool you.) In fact we're told we were lucky to land these deals, so much so that it was prudent to throw caution to the wind and procede before appropriate financing was secured. We later learn that lenders weren't so sanguine about Tufropes, with only 1 lender (out of more than 100 approached) showing any interest. We also learn that the primary reason for the emergency financing is that Paladin didn't buy their 20% equity stake in Bozetto or Tufropes, which Aimia management apparently expected to occur by early fall, but no longer seems to expect will happen at all.
Phil's behaviour before the Capital Markets Tribunal was enough convince me he shouldn't be leading the company. He displayed an unsettling mix of arrogance and shiftiness. Too bad we also have an inept activist trying to take control. Where's a guy like Armoyan when you need him?
Despite all prior evidence to the contrary, I think Phil & Mike may truly believe they're doing God's work -- that they deserve their inflated compensation because they're building the next Berkshire Hathaway, and that only an impertinent activist is to blame for the depressed share price. Their delusion has cost shareholders dearly.
At least we now have Suzi Herbst on board as COO. All her years working with Phil Falcone at Harbinger (then HC2, aka Innovate) suggest she's quite adept at ignoring governance issues, which is no doubt a valuable skill at Aimia!