Details How Independent Third Parties and the Evidence in Legal Proceedings Have Consistently Refuted Masimo’s “Defensive Rhetoric” and How Company’s Attacks on Politan Continue to “Crumble Under Basic Scrutiny”
Shareholders Can Vote for Politan’s Independent Nominees, Darlene Solomon and William Jellison, on the WHITE Card and Can Visit www.AdvanceMasimo.com for Further Information
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Politan Capital Management (together with its affiliates, “Politan”), an 8.9% shareholder of Masimo Corporation (“Masimo” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: MASI), today issued an open letter to shareholders in advance of the Company’s 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”), set for September 19.
The full text of the letter is below:
Dear Fellow Masimo Shareholders,
Over the past several months, Politan and our independent director nominees have been fortunate to have had the chance to hear from many of you, and to offer our own perspectives on Masimo’s vast potential. In a few days the Annual Meeting will occur, and shareholders will finally be able to select a Board comprised of a majority of truly independent directors. We know there has been an overwhelming volume of materials to digest in the last few weeks – and a seemingly unending number of attacks and claims published by Masimo’s Board. We encourage you to visit here for detailed comments by courts, blue-chip financial advisors, proxy advisory firms and expert witnesses to Masimo’s seemingly endless false and misleading assertions.
The efforts of Masimo’s Board to block a fair election continued this past weekend, when Masimo on Friday asked the California Federal Court to again delay the meeting, and then the following day asked to effectively invalidate Politan’s current proxy card – which the Court denied earlier today. Masimo justified these requests by claiming it has been greatly harmed by Politan having disclosed that the Court denied the Company’s request for a preliminary injunction a day earlier than the Court intended. The Court did find Politan violated the sealing order and therefore was in contempt. Though we relied on the advice of counsel and as such believed we were in compliance with the Court (see statement from our counsel here), ultimately the buck stops with me and I regret this occurred. In order to be as transparent as possible around these issues, we made the Court’s orders and Masimo’s Saturday brief readily accessible for shareholders by publishing them on our website. This way, shareholders can get the facts as opposed to Masimo’s spin.
Masimo has also desperately attempted to get shareholders to ignore ISS and Glass Lewis, by falsely implying the reports are stale. In fact, both groups could have revised their reports and have chosen not to. Consider what they wrote about the Board’s credibility:1,2
As Thursday approaches, we urge you to focus on the following:
Further, Glass Lewis stated that the “functionally unchecked separation effort spearheaded by Mr. Kiani” could “place the interests of Mr. Kiani well above those of the Company and its shareholders.” As well, when commenting on how immaterial Masimo’s allegation was, the Court wrote, “From the Court’s perspective, a reasonable shareholder would be more concerned with Kiani signing a term sheet, albeit a non-binding one, with a potential joint-venture partner without consulting Masimo’s complete Board.”
Instead, the Company has consistently responded with promises that aren’t fulfilled and potential that goes unrealized. For example, over a decade ago and again last year before the 2023 Annual Meeting, Masimo promised to expand the Board to at least seven members, yet today it remains at five. As well, last year Masimo promised shareholders in the run up to the Annual Meeting to improve governance and that the business was doing great. Weeks later, Masimo reported an unprecedented collapse in revenues that led to a ~50% stock price decline and went on to block any effort by Mr. Koffey and Ms. Brennan to improve oversight. Without a majority of independent directors, this pattern will continue.
***
In these last few days before the Annual Meeting, we remain focused on the exceptional opportunity at Masimo and the chance this election represents to make clear that shareholders deserve better. Once again, we appreciate your time and engagement throughout this process.
Sincerely,
Quentin Koffey
Politan Capital Management
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: MASI@dfking.com
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 that vested on June 26, 2024 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 53,478,694 shares of Common Stock outstanding as of August 12, 2024, as reported in Masimo’s revised definitive proxy statement filed on August 15, 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.
_______________________________ | ||
1 |
Glass, Lewis & Co., proxy paper, July 11, 2024 (permission to quote Glass Lewis was neither sought nor obtained). |
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2 |
Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., vote recommendation, July 15, 2024 (permission to quote ISS was neither sought nor obtained). |
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3 |
CNBC, July 12, 2024. |
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4 |
Masimo v. Politan Capital Management LP, et al., 8:24-cv-01568-JVS-JDE, Dkt. 221, Order Regarding Motion for Preliminary Injunction (PUBLIC VERSION) at 30 (Sept. 11, 2024) (“PI Order”). |
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5 |
CNBC, September 6, 2024. |
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6 |
Bloomberg Law, August 30, 2024. |
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7 |
PI Order at 10. |
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8 |
Politan Capital Management LP v. Kiani, et al., C.A. No. 2022-0948-NAC, Transcript at 138 (Nov. 17, 2023). |
Contacts
Investor
D.F. King & Co., Inc.
Edward McCarthy
emccarthy@dfking.com
Media
Dan Zacchei / Joe Germani
Longacre Square Partners
dzacchei@longacresquare.com / jgermani@longacresquare.com
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