Greenbackd

The board of Ditech Networks Inc (NASDAQ:DITC) has agreed to nominate Lamassu Holdings’ representatives, Alan B. Howe and Frank J. Sansone, to be elected to the board at DITC’s next annual meeting. It seems that the board’s concern in nominating Howe and Sansone was that they not participate in any “withhold the vote” campaign or disparage the board. It’s a big win for Lamassu, and it appears their letter writing campaign was successful. The stock is now trading at a premium to our estimate of its liquidation value, which value is continuing to deteriorate, so we’re exiting the position. The stock is up from our initial $0.89 to close Friday at $1.75,which is an absolute return of 96.6%. The S&P500 closed at 788.42 when we opened the position, and closed Friday at 1,0472.73, which means our outperformance over the S$P500 was 64.4%.

Post Mortem

We started following DITC (see our archive here) because it was trading below its net cash value with an investor, Lamassu Holdings LLC, disclosing a 9.4% holding in November last year. Lamassu had previously offered to acquire DITC for $1.25 per share in cash. At that time, Lamassu said that it “[anticipated] its due diligence requirement [would] take no more than two weeks and there [was] no financing contingency.” Lamassu then nominated two candidates for election to the board “who [were] committed to enhancing shareholder value through a review of the Company’s business and strategic direction.” Lloyd I Miller III subsequently disclosed a 5.9% holding. Miller came out in support of the director candidates nominated by Lamassu as “candidates who [were] independent of management.” Miller said he sought “to encourage greater attention to corporate governance by all members of the Board of Directors.”

Lamassu then initiated a pointed letter campaign aimed at DITC’s board. In the first letter, Lamassu accused DITC management of “spending as though Ditech Networks has money to burn, adding to the amount of money you have already lost for shareholders during your tenure,” “aggressively [overstepping] the bounds of good corporate governance” and “clearly [violating] your fiduciary responsibility.” In the second, Lamassu claimed that the “decisions of this board [had] shown a pattern of director entrenchment characterized by prioritizing the interest of its members in the face of poor results at the expense of the shareholders” and called for shareholders to “receive ample representation on the board.” The campaign was succesful, and DITC agreeing to nominate Lamassu Holdings’ representatives for election to the board. The stock is up from our initial $0.89 to close Friday at $1.75, which gives the company a market capitalization of $46M. We last estimated the net cash value at around $32.2M or $1.23 per share and the liquidation value at around $43.4M or $1.65 per share. With the stock at a premium to the liquidation value, and that liquidation value deteriorating, we’ve decided to exit the position for a 96.6% gain.

The proxy statement for DITC’s 2009 annual meeting of stockholders more fully describes the agreement between Lamassu and DITC thus:

The Board of Directors currently has seven members. There are two directors in the class whose term of office expires in 2009. Both of the directors currently in serving in this term will not be standing for re-election. The Board of Directors has nominated two new persons to fill these positions. The two nominees, Mr. Alan B. Howe and Mr. Frank J. Sansone, are not currently directors of Ditech. The nomination of each of Mr. Howe and Mr. Sansone was recommended by a securityholder. If elected at the annual meeting, each of the nominees would serve until the 2012 annual meeting and until his successor is elected and has qualified, or until the director’s death, resignation or removal.

On September 2, 2009, Ditech and Lamassu Holdings L.L.C. and certain of its affiliates (collectively, “Lamassu”), entered into a letter agreement in which Ditech and Lamassu agreed that each of Mr. Howe and Mr. Sansone would be nominated to be elected to the Board of Directors at this annual meeting. In addition to the nomination of each of Mr. Howe and Mr. Sansone for election to the Board of Directors, the letter agreement also provides that:

• If Mr. Sansone is unable to serve as a director at a time when Lamassu owns at least 5% of the Ditech common stock, Ditech will appoint a replacement director designated by Lamassu and reasonably acceptable to Ditech Networks;

• Mr. Sansone and any replacement director will sign a conditional resignation from the Board of Directors, which may be accepted by the Board of Directors in the event that Lamassu’s beneficial ownership of Ditech common stock falls below 5% of the outstanding Ditech common stock;

• Lamassu will vote all of the shares it beneficially owns in support of the slate of directors nominated by the Board of Directors at this annual meeting of stockholders (and will not support or participate in any “withhold the vote” or similar campaign, or support any other nominees other than the slate of directors nominated by the Board of Directors);

• Lamassu withdrew its previously announced notice of its intent to nominate directors with respect to this annual meeting of stockholders;

• For a period ending 90 days from the date of this annual meeting of stockholders, Lamassu will not (i) make any public statement regarding Ditech, the Board of Directors or any of Ditech’s officers, directors or employees, except for the press release attached to the agreement or as may be required by law, or (ii) disparage Ditech, the Board of Directors, or any of Ditech’s officers, directors or employees, in any manner, including in any manner which could be harmful to Ditech or its business, the Board of Directors or its reputation, or the business reputation or personal reputation of any officer, director or employee of Ditech.

[Full Disclosure:  We do not have a holding in DITC. This is neither a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. All information provided believed to be reliable and presented for information purposes only. Do your own research before investing in any security.]