CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - Feb 9, 2015) - Crown Point Energy Inc. ("Crown Point" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:CWV) announced today that Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. ("ISS") has recommended that its clients vote the WHITE proxy FOR the second tranche financing (the "Second Tranche") with Crown Point's strategic investors (the "Strategic Investors"). ISS also recommended voting AGAINST LAIG Oil Investments ("LAIG") and its dissident nominees. A shareholders' meeting regarding the vote is scheduled for February 24, 2015.
ISS, a leading independent international corporate governance analysis and proxy advisory firm who, among other things, provides proxy voting recommendations to pension funds, investment managers, mutual funds and other institutional shareholders, made its recommendation after carefully reviewing the facts and arguments made by both Crown Point and dissident LAIG. The independent recommendations of ISS are intended to assist shareholders in making choices regarding proxy voting decisions.
"We welcome ISS' unbiased third-party recommendation, and encourage shareholders to weigh its advice accordingly," said Gordon Kettleson, Chairman of Crown Point. "ISS' observations validate our belief that the Company's best path forward lies with our incumbent Board progressing our promising 14-well Tierra del Fuego exploration and development program using funds from the Second Tranche financing with the Strategic Investors."
"We agree with ISS' view that "the dissident has not made a compelling case" for the removal of seven members of Crown Point's incumbent Board. We urge shareholders to vote the WHITE proxy today to protect their investment in Crown Point."
In recommending that its clients vote the WHITE proxy FOR the Second Tranche and AGAINST LAIG and its dissident nominees, ISS makes the following points(1):
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On management's achievements and reasonable executive compensation:
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". . . there appears some evidence that management has been moving in the right direction in terms of operation which includes reasonable progress made on the company's core asset projects in TDF and financing/strategic relationship established with the two strategic investors… which appointed two nominees who have relevant experience in the finance and energy sector in Argentina that should add value to the board."
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"With Argentina's relatively favourable outlook for natural gas prices and the relatively small price decline for regulated oil prices in January compared with the sharp recent fall in global oil prices, shareholders may wish to allow management some more time to deliver its plan."
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"Given the financing back-up and the strategic relationship with the strategic investors, and the overall positive trend of expected increasing production volumes, it may be reasonable to allow some more time for management to deliver the results on TDF."
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"… there appears to be no significant pay for performance misalignment on executive compensation as the total compensation of most executives has steadily decreased from 2012 to 2014."
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On concerns about LAIG:
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"… the dissident plan to close the Canadian offices of the company appears to be overly demanding, since the company is a Canadian publicly listed company with a North American shareholder base."
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"… it appears that the dissident has not provided a detailed business plan with respect to how to turn around the company that is fundamentally different from what the current management is trying to achieve."
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"… the newly revised terms of the second tranche of financing offer from the dissident, though superior, raises concern that the opportunistic timing of the submission causes management a limited timeframe for evaluation and ignores the potential damage over the strategic relationship that has been already built with the two strategic investors.
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"The timing of such offer may be questioned by other shareholders… "
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