Proxy advisors oppose replacement of SoftwareOne board, 'restores calm to company'
Proxy firms Ethos, Glass Lewis and Inrate are joining ISS in supporting the reseller’s board
Three additional proxy advisors have opposed the complete replacement of SoftwareOne's board of directors – a request made by 29 per cent of shareholder block.
Proxy firms Ethos, Glass Lewis and Inrate joined ISS in opposing the planned replacement of the board, the solutions provider said in a statement.
Shareholders had requested the replacement of the board of directors following its decision to reject a takeover bid from private equity firm Bain Capital.
Earlier this year, the board decided to keep the company independent after conducting a strategic review.
In July 2023, SoftwareOne's board initiated a strategic review to explore options for value creation, including the potential sale of the company.
After the review, the board concluded that Bain Capital's proposal neither provided sufficient certainty nor accurately reflected the company's full value.
Following support from proxy advisors, SoftwareOne said the board of directors is seeing its position "further confirmed."
While it is hoped this will help "restore calm to the company" and allow management to focus on leading it, meeting its growth and profitability objectives, and implementing Vision 2026.
A Vision for the future
SoftwareOne's Vision 2026 initiative was unveiled alongside an encouraging set of financial results for the FY23 in February 2023.
The strategy comprises five key pillars. Firstly, to address the growing concern of spiralling cloud costs, the company aims to deepen its relationships with the three major hyperscalers: AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
This move aligns with its goal of becoming a more competitive solution provider by integrating its marketplace and services divisions internally.
Secondly, the reseller acknowledged the potential of Microsoft's Copilot offering, believing it represents a medium-term opportunity worth CHF 100m (£90.1m).
The company plans to capitalise on this opportunity by providing value-added services related to Copilot.
The third pillar focuses on data and AI, where SoftwareOne aims to leverage its Intelligence Fabric offering to capitalise on the growing demand for these technologies.
Furthermore, the company is ramping up its focus on key independent software vendors (ISVs) by establishing dedicated global and regional teams to better serve this market segment.
And finally, SoftwareOne is looking to enhance client interactions by leveraging its client portal, which the company believes presents a compelling value proposition as a self-serve, one-stop-shop for both clients and vendors.