Align, “Announce the Abandonment of Merger with Robotics” to Doosan Bobcat

After securing a 1.0% stake, a shareholder letter… 4 demands including improving shareholder return rate,
,
, ‘(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Song Eun-kyung – Activist fund Align Partners (hereinafter referred to as Align) has demanded that Doosan Bobcat’s board declare they will not push forward with a merger through a comprehensive stock swap with Doosan Robotics.’,
,
, ‘Align, which holds 1,003,500 shares of Doosan Bobcat (1.0% of the total issued shares), sent a shareholder letter with these demands to Doosan Bobcat on the 15th and disclosed this on the 20th.’,
,
, ‘In July, Doosan Group attempted to restructure its business by merging its subsidiary Doosan Bobcat with Doosan Robotics but withdrew the plan due to shareholder opposition.’,
,
, ‘However, they are still pursuing a plan to split Doosan Enerbility into an existing business company and a new investment company owning Doosan Bobcat shares, and merge this newly created company with Doosan Robotics. As planned, Doosan Bobcat would become a subsidiary of Doosan Robotics.’,
,
, ‘Align stated, “The potential for pushing forward with a comprehensive stock swap is negatively impacting Doosan Bobcat’s stock price,” and insisted, “Declare that the comprehensive stock swap with Doosan Robotics will not be pursued again.”‘,
,
, ‘Furthermore, Align urged Doosan Bobcat to use the 1.5 trillion won, which the board decided to use for handling stock purchase rights during Doosan Group’s business restructuring, for shareholder returns (special dividends) and to announce a value-up plan to raise the shareholder return rate to the average level of 65% of peers like Caterpillar, Deere, and Kubota.’,
,
, ‘Finally, Align pointed out skepticism in the capital market regarding the board’s independence from controlling shareholders and demanded, “Significantly reconfigure the board composition and announce the introduction of measures to ensure the board’s independence.”‘,
,
, ‘Align originally sent the shareholder letter privately but explained that the process became publicly known, making it unavoidable to disclose the letter.’,
,
, ‘Moreover, Align added that Doosan Bobcat’s board should respond to the shareholder letter by the 15th of next month through public means such as disclosures, investor relations (IR), or media.’,
,
, ‘Lee Chang-hwan, CEO of Align, stated, “Doosan Bobcat is currently trading at 2.8 times its expected EBITDA for this year, which is less than a quarter of the peer average of 13.6 times,” and added, “The board of Doosan Bobcat has not yet clarified their stance on whether they will pursue the comprehensive stock swap with Robotics again, and if there is a possibility of pursuing it, the lower Doosan Bobcat’s stock price is, the more favorable the exchange ratio becomes for Doosan’s controlling shareholders, which investors are well aware of, thus negatively impacting the stock price.”‘,
,
, ‘He continued, “The significantly low shareholder return rate (18%) compared to the industry average (65%) is another major cause of Doosan Bobcat’s undervaluation,” and emphasized, “At the time of the comprehensive stock swap resolution, Doosan Bobcat’s board resolved to use a total of 1.5 trillion won for stock purchase rights response (treasury stock acquisition), which means these funds are available for shareholder returns, so they need to be used for this purpose to restore investor confidence.”‘,
,
, ‘[email protected]’,
,
,