Obrem asks Micrel shareholders to support its slate of director nominees

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., April 26 - Micrel, Inc. shareholder Obrem Capital Management, LLC asked fellow shareholders to elect Obrem's director nominees at the company's special meeting on May 20.

Obrem's nominees are:

• Bill Bradford, a co-founder and general partner of Saguaro Ventures;

• Keith R. Gollust, a founding partner of Gollust, Tierney, and Oliver, a private investment firm;

• Eric Gomberg, a senior investment analyst at Obrem Capital Management;

• Ben Goren, a principal at GCG Capital;

• Keith M. Kolerus, former chairman of the board of ACI Electronics; and

• Andrew Rechtschaffen, founder and managing member of Obrem Capital Management.

In a letter to shareholders, Obrem said it believes stockholders will continue to suffer if the current board is allowed to remain in place.

Micrel's board "continues to try to deflect attention from its own poor track record by using Obrem's tenure as a stockholder as an irrelevant distraction," the letter stated.

According to Obrem, more than $1 billion of stockholder value has been lost since January 2001 under the leadership of chief executive officer Ray Zinn and the current board of directors. The company's growth has also lagged, Obrem said.

Obrem noted the high cost of the proxy contest to Micrel and said it believes Micrel's board would "spend whatever it takes in an attempt to cast a dismal track record in the best possible light to keep themselves in control of the company."

On April 25, Micrel urged its shareholders to reject the proposals put forth by Obrem, a recently formed hedge fund.

Micrel, in its letter to shareholders, called Obrem's slate of nominees inexperienced and reiterated its view that Obrem wants board representation for the purpose of selling the company.

On April 16, Micrel announced it was soliciting proxies against Obrem's proposals.

Micrel cited its directors' collective 200 years of relevant experience and said they "bring a valuable blend of deep strategic, senior executive, operational and public company board expertise inside and outside of the semiconductor industry."

Obrem reported the purchase of additional Micrel shares in an April 23 schedule 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The hedge fund now has a 15% stake in Micrel.

Micrel develops and manufactures high-performance analog power integrated circuits (ICs), mixed-signal ICs and digital ICs. The company is based in San Jose, Calif.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.