(Reuters) – New York-based HC2 Holdings Inc
Percy Rockdale, along with hedge fund MG Capital Management and its affiliates, had asked HC2 shareholders in a letter last week to vote in favor of removing the company’s entire board and installing the six candidates nominated by them.
The fund, along with its partners, own a stake of about 6% in HC2, which owns varied businesses including a construction company, distributor of natural gas motor fuel and a wholesale telecom service provider.
Activist investor Michael Gorzynski, who runs MG Capital, has been stepping up calls to remove Falcone, as the former hedge fund manager faces mounting legal and financial troubles.
“Gorzynski is distracting stockholders with Falcone’s personal matters to mislead investors into thinking that such matters impact his abilities as HC2’s CEO,” the company said in a letter to its shareholders late on Thursday, calling the activist investor’s bid a “smear campaign”.
HC2 said it hired an independent counsel to review the impact of Falcone’s private financial matters and “determined such matters do not detract from his capabilities as CEO in any way.”
HC2 said Gorzynski’s claims were false, adding that he intends to be the company’s interim CEO but has limited experience.
MG Capital and Percy Rockdale were not immediately available for a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
