In the ongoing legal dispute Hudson Bay filed a motion for partial judgement yesterday.
Hudson Bay are demanding 2.2M shares from Patriot National / Steve Mariano.
Current total share count is around 26.8M, Mariano currently holds 12M.
Hudson Bay’s arguments seem pretty robust -it’s a straightforward case of breach of contract.
The most worrisome aspect about this is - How did Mariano get himself into this mess in the first place?
Any views as to whether this will affect the business going forward?
PN has stated that they have a board committee to explore all options to increase shareholder value. Is this just a matter of Mariano being so fed up that he wants to find a buyer so that he can wash his hands of the whole thing?
Ian,
I don’t think the complaint is material to the operation of the business at all from what you described. Worst case scenario seems to be a 10% dilution if anything happens at all. I think you’ll get a much better indication of the future of the company by listening to the earnings cc.
I do believe he is setting up the company for a sale by next year though. Nothing specific to point to as a basis for that though.
Do you happen to have a link to a description of the dispute? I could only find paid sites.
It isn’t free, but the charges are trivial - see pacer.gov
I am not so confident as you that it will not affect the business.
I have listened to several earnings calls and other events since you first brought this company to the board. I had quite a significant position, with a very good return.
My take on Mariano is that he is decent guy who has been shafted by a few financiers and is disenchanted - to say the least. He is in a very tight corner on this legal dispute and may be forced to sell more equity as his current shares are held as collateral for loans.
This shouldn’t be dilutive as the shares in question are his personal shares.
Having a CEO under financial duress being forced to sell a large percentage of his stake in a company is not a good situation.
None of these shenanigins have anything to do with the underlying business, but with turmoil at the top the business is bound to suffer.
I have trimmed my position considerably.
If all this gets resolved without serious repercussions, I may start to add again.