CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clutterbuck Capital Management LLC, along with KPT Capital LLC, released the following letter announcing their decisions to opt out of the current GetSwift (ASX: GSW) class action and to acknowledge their supportive position of the Company and senior management.
The text of the letter follows:
Dear Fellow GetSwift Shareholders,
We write to you as two of GetSwift’s larger shareholders - Clutterbuck Capital Management LLC (CCM) and the founder of KPT Capital LLC (KPT), respectively. While both parties act independently in relation to the GetSwift shares which they respectively hold or otherwise control and also in relation to GetSwift generally, we both think it is timely to draw the following important points to your attention.
Although the Company has recently endured a very tumultuous and public existence, we believe general commentary fails to address the highly supportive position of long-term shareholders. Instead, we believe it portrays the position of those parties driving the well-publicized class action proceedings and of particular media outlets, who both may stand to benefit by negatively distorting facts and/or sentiment in relation to the Company.
We have already notified the Court of our decision to opt-out of the current class action proceedings. We thought it pertinent to also voice our full and strong support of the entire senior management team of GetSwift, in particular, Bane Hunter and Joel Macdonald. We believe it is essential for the future success of the Company that Messrs. Hunter and Macdonald remain at the helm for many reasons, including their strong customer relationships, deep industry expertise, and the ability to attract and retain key talent. The Company has already started to demonstrate a concrete path to growth, as exemplified by the Company reporting consistent ongoing quarter-over-quarter growth in 2018 and the Company’s announcement of two strategic North American acquisitions in February this year.
It is important to note the Company has, in recent times, taken definitive action to remedy potential points of concern. These steps have included the appointment of an independent Chairman, Michael Fricklas. Mr. Fricklas has an exceptional reputation and was formerly Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Viacom Inc from 1993 to 2017. The Company also added former deputy chair of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, Belinda Gibson, as a Non-Executive Director. In addition, GetSwift enlisted the services of PricewaterhouseCoopers to review GetSwift’s continuous disclosure compliance and corporate governance framework, and also brought on board tier-1 legal litigation representation through Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP. We consider that these positive actions should go a long way towards addressing concerns surrounding the Company’s corporate governance practices, and provide additional structural support for the Company moving forward.
Externally, we believe that inappropriate and questionable actions by certain proponents behind the various class action proceedings filed against the Company have, to date, resulted in an unsatisfactory treatment to shareholders. These actions include seemingly unreasonable claims as to the total monetary claim size of certain of the announced representative class actions.
We believe it is in the best interests of the Company to move forward with a fair process where the legal obstacles are put behind us. This will allow Messrs. Hunter and Macdonald to solely focus on delivering – to the benefit of all shareholders - the Company’s value proposition that we believe to be very real. Thus, in light of the decisive action which the Company and its management have recently taken, and the Company’s positive business outlook, CCM and KPT’s founder have both decided that it is unlikely to be in their best interests as shareholders to participate in the class action, and accordingly have opted out. Instead, we are intent on putting our support behind Messrs. Hunter and Macdonald and their fellow management team, and their plans to drive the Company forward, with the collective aim of generating enhanced value for all shareholders.
Robert T. Clutterbuck
Managing Partner
Clutterbuck Capital
Management LLC
Richard Leahy
Managing Partner
KPT Capital LLC