Fidelity National Financial Chairman is opposed to opposition at investment firm
The letter criticizes the “vague and undifferentiated” investment approach of Cannae and convicted recent management actions. These include an accelerated equity for drivers if they are not re -elected and a requirement for Cannae to buy back half of Foley’s shares “with a considerable premium for market prices.”
“We believe that this offensive action trounces the rights of the shareholders and the fiduciary tasks of the board and the true owners of the company further arise,” the letter said. “It also makes it clear to us that Cannae has not entered into the dialogue of good trust, despite our persistent and genuine efforts, which made the need to release this letter with the aim of reaching the entire board and building a market consensus on the best path ahead for the company.”
Career was founded by investor than Gropper. It calls on Cannae to divert his participations in listed companies and to concentrate on improving the performance and appreciation of his private investments.
Together with a strong partner and head of research Andy Taylor, Gropper added their signatures at the end of the letter.
“Despite a handful of successful investments in the past, the current portfolio of private investments is consistently marked at costs and the remaining investments in public shares have destroyed around $ 900 million in value,” the letter said.
A lack of strategic cohesion and minimal disclosure of portfolios have eroded the trust of investors, they added.
“There has been no clear investment story for shareholders to find out, as we should consistently describe Cannae as the Bill Foley co-investment vehicle,” the letter said.
The shares of the company have struggled and have fallen almost 50%in the last five years, according to Cannae’s 2024 Annual report. The company was part of FNF to one Formal separation In 2017.
Cannae suffered a controversial setback in 2020 when it tried to acquire real estate data company Corelogic by Senator Investment Group LP. The companies were ultimately superfluous Stone Point Capital And Insight Partners In a deal of $ 5.9 billion.
Cannae responds to accusations
Cannae has defended his approachsay that it has taken steps to reduce management costs and better align the executive stimuli with the interests of the shareholders by moving compensation mainly to company shares.
“The strategic plan that the company has already started with the implementation will yield a better return in the long term to our shareholders than the actions proposed by Carronade Capital,” Cannae said in her response.
Foley, who became the CEO of Cannae last year, confirmed the company’s dedication to the current strategy.
“Our Board of Directors and Management Team remain committed to stimulating the long -term value creation, and the efforts made to implement the strategic plan of the company is a reflection of that commitment,” he stated in the company’s response. “It is important that we remain optimistic about the prospects for our portfolio companies and their important embedded value.
“We also remain aimed at returning capital to shareholders and will use capital of the sale of existing public portfolio company Holdings to further reduce our shares, given our continuous dedication to reduce the share discount of Cannae to net assets (NAV).”
In response to the pressure of investors, Cannae has restructured its portfolio. The company has raised $ 470 million by recent stock sales, including 10 million shares of Dun & Bradstreet for $ 101 million and 4 million shares of Dayforce For $ 264 million.
In addition, Cannae has returned $ 738 million to shareholders in the last four years, with 35% of its ordinary shares being purchased with authorization to reduce another 12.3 million shares.
Proxy Vant Vooruit
Carronade has informed Cannae of his intention to nominate four independent directors during the annual meeting of the company 2025, making it a scene for a heated proxy struggle.
Gropper argues that Cannae’s deep trade discount with regard to his NAV – an average of 40% below the asset value – reflects a “failure in capital assignment, strategic planning and governance supervision”.
“A well -managed company with a strong asset base should not act on such a deep discount,” he wrote. “We believe that this wrong alignment indicates a failure in capital allocation, strategic planning and governance supervision.”
