Politan Comments on Masimo's Latest Entrenchment Maneuvers
Politan Will Take All Necessary Action to Ensure That the Annual Meeting Is Not Delayed Any Further Beyond September 19 and Hopefully Is Held Sooner
Politan Capital Management (together with its affiliates, "Politan"), an 8.9% shareholder of Masimo Corporation ("Masimo" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:MASI), today responded to the Company's Board of Directors moving Masimo's Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Annual Meeting"), previously scheduled for July 25, 2024, to September 19, 2024. Politan also commented on the Board bringing a lawsuit in federal court against Politan and its founder and CIO Quentin Koffey. Mr. Koffey is also a member of the Masimo Board.
Mr. Koffey stated:
"On Monday, ISS wrote that Masimo, "has a corporate governance track record that is firmly among the most troubling of any modern public company," and that CEO and Chairman Joe Kiani, "has demonstrated that he has no regard for public shareholders. He has been at the center of so many corporate governance scandals and abuses that no credible argument exists to the contrary." Today's actions are more of the same.
This is not about Politan's proxy materials. There are no misstatements. Politan has never had any contact with "plaintiff's counsel" involving litigation against Masimo and does not even know what Mr. Kiani is referring to. The reality is that moving the Annual Meeting – which was scheduled to be held in nine days – back two months is nothing more than a desperate attempt to prevent the voices of Masimo's shareholders from being heard. Despite Masimo's bylaws and Delaware law requiring the Company hold an Annual Meeting within 13 months of the last one, Mr. Kiani is delaying the Annual Meeting to a date 15 months past the last meeting, and he has calculated that the time it takes for Politan to go to court and compel a meeting could allow him to get away with such a substantial delay. As Politan made clear in a letter sent to the Board on July 15, even if the Board truly wanted to address the empty voting issue, there was no need for the meeting to be rescheduled for any later than August 5.
Similar to the adoption of the entrenching advance notice bylaws last year, when faced with the certainty that he would lose a shareholder vote, Mr. Kiani has again resorted to what a Delaware judge deemed "a phalanx of impediments…to the exercise of the stockholder franchise." Further, the retaliatory legal action taken against Politan is another example of this and is completely without merit. We are confident it will be defeated. Denying shareholders a timely election and pursuing frivolous litigation against a shareholder all in an effort to push off a vote after the leading proxy advisory firms both supported Politan only confirms that Mr. Kiani's affiliated directors Bob Chapek and Craig Reynolds are not independent and will support Mr. Kiani no matter how detrimental his behavior is to Masimo.
Most importantly, Politan will take all necessary action to ensure that the Annual Meeting is not delayed any further beyond September 19 and hopefully is held sooner. Ultimately, this last-gasp attempt to block shareholders' rights will fail – just like all the Board's previous attempts over the past two years. We look forward to moving past these misguided distractions and helping to start a new chapter for Masimo."
Politan encourages shareholders to review its presentation, proxy materials and letter to shareholders, all of which are available at www.AdvanceMasimo.com. Shareholders can support real change at Masimo by voting on the WHITE proxy card FOR the election of Darlene Solomon and William Jellison.
Your vote is important, no matter how many shares of Common Stock you own. We urge you to sign, date, and return the WHITE universal proxy card today to vote FOR the election of the Politan Nominees and in accordance with the Politan Parties' recommendations on the other proposals on the agenda for the 2024 Annual Meeting.
If you have any questions, require assistance in voting your
WHITE universal proxy card or voting instruction form,
or need additional copies of Politan's proxy materials,
please contact D.F. King using the contact information provided here:
D.F. King & Co., Inc.
48 Wall Street
New York, New York 10005
Stockholders call toll-free: (888) 628-8208
Banks and Brokers call: (212) 269-5550
By Email: [email protected]
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
The information herein contains "forward-looking statements." Specific forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and include, without limitation, words such as "may," "will," "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "potential," "targets," "forecasts," "seeks," "could," "should" or the negative of such terms or other variations on such terms or comparable terminology. Similarly, statements that describe our objectives, plans or goals are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties and assumptions. There can be no assurance that any idea or assumption herein is, or will be proven, correct. If one or more of the risks or uncertainties materialize, or if any of the underlying assumptions of Politan Capital Management LP ("Politan") or any of the other participants in the proxy solicitation described herein prove to be incorrect, the actual results may vary materially from outcomes indicated by these statements. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by Politan that the future plans, estimates or expectations contemplated will ever be achieved.
Certain statements and information included herein may have been sourced from third parties. Politan does not make any representations regarding the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of such third party statements or information. Except as may be expressly set forth herein, permission to cite such statements or information has neither been sought nor obtained from such third parties. Any such statements or information should not be viewed as an indication of support from such third parties for the views expressed herein.
Politan disclaims any obligation to update the information herein or to disclose the results of any revisions that may be made to any projected results or forward-looking statements herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such information, projected results or statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.
CERTAIN INFORMATION CONCERNING THE PARTICIPANTS
Politan and the other Participants (as defined below) have filed a definitive proxy statement and accompanying WHITE universal proxy card or voting instruction form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") to be used to solicit proxies for, among other matters, the election of its slate of director nominees at the 2024 annual stockholders meeting (the "2024 Annual Meeting") of Masimo Corporation, a Delaware corporation ("Masimo"). Shortly after filing its definitive proxy statement with the SEC, Politan furnished the definitive proxy statement and accompanying WHITE universal proxy card or voting instruction form to some or all of the stockholders entitled to vote at the 2024 Annual Meeting.
The participants in the proxy solicitation are Politan, Politan Capital Management GP LLC ("Politan Management"), Politan Capital Partners GP LLC ("Politan GP"), Politan Capital NY LLC (the "Record Stockholder"), Politan Intermediate Ltd., Politan Capital Partners Master Fund LP ("Politan Master Fund"), Politan Capital Partners LP ("Politan LP"), Politan Capital Offshore Partners LP ("Politan Offshore" and, collectively with Politan Master Fund and Politan LP, the "Politan Funds"), Quentin Koffey, Matthew Hall, Aaron Kapito (all of the foregoing persons, collectively, the "Politan Parties"), William Jellison and Darlene Solomon (such individuals, collectively with the Politan Parties, the "Participants").
As of the date hereof, the Politan Parties in this solicitation collectively own an aggregate of 4,713,518 shares (the "Politan Group Shares") of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, of Masimo (the "Common Stock"). Mr. Koffey may be deemed to own an aggregate of 4,714,746 shares of Common Stock (the "Koffey Shares"), which consists of 1,228 restricted stock units (the "RSUs") as well as the Politan Group Shares. Politan, as the investment adviser to the Politan Funds, may be deemed to have the shared power to vote or direct the vote of (and the shared power to dispose or direct the disposition of) the Politan Group Shares, and, therefore, Politan may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of all of the Politan Group Shares. The Record Stockholder is the direct and record owner of 1,000 shares of Common Stock that comprise part of the Politan Group Shares. Both the Politan Group Shares and the Koffey Shares represent approximately 8.9% of the outstanding shares of Common Stock based on 53,182,247 shares of Common Stock outstanding as of June 13, 2024, as reported in Masimo's definitive proxy statement filed on June 17, 2024. As the general partner of Politan, Politan Management may be deemed to have the shared power to vote or direct the vote of (and the shared power to dispose or direct the disposition of) all of the Politan Group Shares and, therefore, Politan Management may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of all of the Politan Group Shares. As the general partner of the Politan Funds, Politan GP may be deemed to have the shared power to vote or to direct the vote of (and the shared power to dispose or direct the disposition of) all of the Politan Group Shares, and therefore Politan GP may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of all of the Politan Group Shares. Mr. Koffey, including by virtue of his position as the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Politan and as the Managing Member of Politan Management and Politan GP, may be deemed to have the shared power to vote or direct the vote of (and the shared power to dispose or direct the disposition of) all of the Koffey Shares.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHERE TO FIND IT
POLITAN STRONGLY ADVISES ALL STOCKHOLDERS OF MASIMO TO READ ITS DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT, ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO SUCH PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER PROXY MATERIALS FILED BY POLITAN WITH THE SEC AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. SUCH PROXY MATERIALS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE ON THE SEC'S WEBSITE AT WWW.SEC.GOV. THE DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE SEC WEBSITE, FREE OF CHARGE, OR BY DIRECTING A REQUEST TO THE PARTICIPANTS' PROXY SOLICITOR, D.F. KING & CO., INC., 48 WALL STREET, 22ND FLOOR, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10005 STOCKHOLDERS CAN CALL TOLL-FREE: (888) 628-8208.
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