Views Further Acquisitions as Distraction that
Obscures Slowing Organic Growth Challenges
Confirms Offer to Acquire Bigtincan for A$0.80
Per Share in Cash, Which Represents a 46% Premium to BTH’s 30-Day
Average Price of A$0.55 at Time it Was Made Privately
SQN Would Support Higher Offers that it Does
Not Match while Also Enabling Existing BTH Shareholders to Rollover
Portion of Holdings into an SQN-Led Deal
SQN Investors LP (“SQN” or “we”), the investment manager of the
SQN Investors Masters Fund LP, the largest shareholder of Bigtincan
Holdings Limited (the “Company” or “BTH”) (ASX:BTH), today sent a
letter to the BTH Board of Directors (“Board”) expressing our
objection to the potentially dilutive and value-destructive “$30M
raise for acquisitions” foreshadowed by its trading halt and
rumored in this Australian Financial Review article:
https://www.afr.com/street-talk/bigtincan-readies-30m-equity-raise-for-acquisitions-amid-sqn-s-bid-20221206-p5c44p.
We believe such a transaction would obscure the Company’s
organic growth challenges and would be a poor use of capital.
SQN also confirmed that it sent a letter to the Company on
November 6, 2022, offering to acquire all of BTH’s outstanding
ordinary shares for A$0.80 per share in cash by way of scheme of
arrangement (“SQN Proposal”), which was made public by BTH via an
ASX announcement released on December 1, 2022.
Several material components of SQN’s non-binding indicative
offer (NBIO) were omitted by BTH in its disclosure, including:
- SQN’s belief that BTH can better unlock its potential as a
private business due to a variety of operational and capital market
related challenges ahead of BTH, all of which have been shared with
the Board of Directors on numerous occasions;
- At the time the SQN Proposal was made, the offer represented a
46% premium over BTH’s 30-day average price of A$0.55 as of
November 4, 2022 (the last trading day prior to the issue of the
NBIO). Given the illiquidity of the stock, we believe this is the
right metric to focus on versus the spot premium on any single day,
and fairly values the Company and its long-term prospects;
- SQN has responded to all of the BTH Independent Board
Committee’s (“BTH IBC”) requests for further information in
relation to the SQN Proposal over the past four weeks, including in
relation to its funding. At this time, SQN has not been given any
feedback nor been provided access to Company information for the
purpose of progressing the SQN Proposal with its capital
partners;
- Under the terms of the SQN Proposal (and if it proceeds), SQN
has committed to support any competing scheme of arrangement or
takeover bid (once unconditional) of a higher value and recommended
by the BTH IBC should they emerge and that we do not match. This
would effectively set a floor value of A$0.80 per share and ensure
shareholder value was maximized in all scenarios; and
- SQN is open to other shareholders rolling a portion of their
holdings into the SQN bid vehicle if the BTH IBC determines that
would be an attractive feature for BTH shareholders.
The full text of the letter sent to BTH’s Board on December 7,
2022, follows.
December 7, 2022
Dear Board of Directors of Bigtincan (“BTH”),
As the largest shareholder of BTH, SQN Investors Masters Fund LP
has endeavored to assist BTH with its various strategic priorities
in 2021 and 2022, including leading the financing for the
Brainshark acquisition.
We were highly disappointed to read this in the Australian
Financial Review about a potentially highly dilutive capital
raise:
https://www.afr.com/street-talk/bigtincan-readies-30m-equity-raise-for-acquisitions-amid-sqn-s-bid-20221206-p5c44p
BTH’s decision to pursue this would seem hasty and
value-destructive following your receipt of our bona fide
acquisition proposal that would offer the Company and its
shareholders a significant all-cash premium. We strongly object to
this proposed transaction and obviously will not participate in it
if it materializes.
Our goal remains the same: to maximize value for all BTH’s
shareholders. That outcome, we passionately believe, is to go
private today. This is why we have both made an offer for the
Company and committed to supporting higher bids should they emerge
and that we do not match. We have shared our rationale for our
thinking with the Board in several documents that are based on
publicly available information, findings which we are happy to
share with interested parties.
To be clear, the Company is on record with its CEO, David Keane,
stating on July 27, 2022 that “the company is well funded with its
cash balance. Given the cash flow discussion we've had today, the
company is not looking to make any new capital raising activities,
and there are no acquisitions currently planned.” This disclosure
is one that we and likely other shareholders have relied upon when
making investment decisions.
The Company’s about-face would raise significant corporate
governance concerns and undermine the credibility of past
statements made by the Company. On December 1, 2022, the Company
announced on the ASX that in addition to SQN’s proposal it “had
preliminary discussions with other interested parties who have
approached Bigtincan with indications of interest in respect of a
potential control transaction.”
And then suddenly you would choose to embark on this potentially
dilutive and speculative capital raise?
We would urge you to instead honor your fiduciary obligations
and engage with the various parties that have approached you about
a control transaction, including SQN Investors.
Furthermore, we believe that this capital raise would imply a
reliance on further acquisitions to achieve your publicly stated
guidance of $137M to $143M in Annualized Recurring Revenue (“ARR”)
for FY23. The midpoint of this range represents 17% organic growth,
down from what was indicated as combined pro forma growth at scale
at the time of the Brainshark acquisition just a year ago, and down
materially from over 35% in FY17-20. Towards the end of FY22, the
Company completed two acquisitions: StorySlab and Task Exchange,
both of which were buried in the Annual Report but for which it
never disclosed publicly the quantum of ARR acquired. Yet, you
likely counted this ARR towards your $120M in ARR achieved in FY22,
thereby obscuring BTH’s true and declining organic growth rate. We
have expressed this concern to you repeatedly since the time of
these acquisitions and have not received a satisfactory
response.
In addition, BTH’s financial profile as a public company is
becoming increasingly untenable given its continued cash burn,
further underscoring our conviction in why the Company should go
private.
We passionately believe that going private and seeking the
highest offer you can, now that you have our A$0.80 per share floor
price, will be the best path forward to maximize value for all
shareholders. Your potential transaction to raise A$30M for
speculative acquisitions erodes value and is not in the best
interests of shareholders.
We urge you to not pursue any capital raise or do any
acquisitions at this time. Instead, we hope you will focus your
energy on the various bidders that you disclosed have expressed a
desire to acquire BTH.
Regards,
Amish Mehta Founder and CIO SQN Investors LP
About SQN Investors LP
SQN Investors LP is a long/short equity investment adviser
focused on investments in technology and technology-related (“TMT”)
companies. SQN employs a long-term, concentrated, private
equity-like approach to investing in the public equity markets. Its
core focus is on 1,000 North American technology companies with a
market capitalization typically between $300M and $10B. SQN was
launched in 2014 and invests capital on behalf of institutions and
individual investors.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221207005947/en/
Media Contacts Gasthalter & Co. Jonathan
Gasthalter/Nathaniel Garnick/Kevin FitzGerald +1 (212) 257-4170
SQN@Gasthalter.com
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