LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Western Gate acknowledges yesterday’s announcement regarding DIA’s financing agreement and reverse stock split, and publicly supports these actions. Western Gate believes these steps are required as part of a wider, critical strategy that the Board must implement to address DIA’s significant undervaluation relative to its peers and to restore vital market liquidity.
In recent years, Western Gate has engaged with the Board to demand urgent and critical changes at DIA to raise awareness of its operational turnaround, improve its profile and reputation in the market, and build positive momentum around the business. Western Gate remains deeply concerned about DIA’s lack of market engagement and the detrimental impact it has had on its market valuation. Yesterday’s announcement is a positive first step and we look forward to DIA’s Investor Day in March 2025 to better understand the steps the Company is taking to addresses the real changes needed to drive transformation at DIA, including better representation for minority shareholders.
Western Gate is a member of a Coalition of more than 50 DIA shareholders, who have come together, united by concerns over DIA’s significant undervaluation relative to its peers and the Board’s lack of transparency, determined to promote better corporate governance at the Company.
The Coalition is campaigning for DIA to build on its current positive operational momentum and establish a clear investor relations strategy to improve share price performance. The Coalition believes that the Board’s and executive leadership team’s total compensation should be aligned with share price performance and has also stressed the need for a more independent Board with relevant, recent sector experience to represent the interests of all shareholders, not just the majority shareholder, LetterOne. These initiatives aim to fortify DIA's financial standing, boost shareholder value, and augment its market perception.
Luis Amaral, Western Gate:
“We welcome yesterday’s announcement as a positive first step, but it is just the beginning of the changes required at DIA. This marks a key milestone in our campaign, and we call on the Board to work with us to unlock value, address DIA’s significant undervaluation, and drive the transformation the Company desperately needs.”
Notes to editors:
About Western Gate
Western Gate Private Investments Limited is an investment branch belonging to the Family Office of Luis Amaral and invests in private and listed companies principally in the retail and consumer goods sector.
About the Coalition
The Coalition, led by Western Gate, is a group of independent shareholders, without any commitments on how to vote, who are seriously concerned about DIA’s languishing share price and a lack of action from DIA’s Board to address the fact that the Company is woefully undervalued vs. its peers. The Coalition is calling for the Board to act in the interests of all stakeholders and not just the majority shareholder by taking steps to better engage with the market and appoint an independent Board member with expertise directly relevant to DIA’s business model, to represent minority shareholders.
