Ancora Holdings push for change at Texas firm Blucora falls short
Ancora Holdings push for change at Texas firm Blucora falls short
Can t win em all.
That describes the situation for Cleveland-based activist investor Ancora Holdings Inc., which had sought to seat four new board members at Irving, Texas-based Blucora Inc., only to see Blucora shareholders vote to reelect the financial services firm s 10 current board members. The vote was revealed at Blucora s annual meeting on Wednesday, April 21.
Reuters reports that Blucora had told shareholders, which include large index funds and hedge funds, that its directors were better qualified to lead the company and that a number of recently made changes were beginning to bear fruit. The company replaced the chief executive and chief financial officers last year amid concerns about performance, positioned the company s two tax-focused businesses for long-term growth, and added new independent directors in 2020 and 2021.
Ancora Holdings nominates Blucora directors, pushes for tax arm sale
BLOOMBERG
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Activist investor Ancora Holdings Inc. has nominated four directors to Blucora Inc. s board and is calling for the company to explore strategic alternatives for its tax services business, including a sale. The stock rose as much as 10%.
The Cleveland-based asset manager, which owns a 3% stake in Blucora, argued in a letter to shareholders Thursday, Feb. 25, that there are few synergies between the TaxAct unit and its wealth management and registered advisory business, Avantax. Selling TaxAct could boost the company s share price by 40% to 75%, Ancora said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg.