PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sovereign Bancorp Inc.
(NYSE: SOV) today released the following open letter to its shareholders,
discussing hedge fund activist Relational Investors' latest tactic in its
massive negative public relations campaign against Sovereign, its management
and its directors:
To All Our Valued Shareholders:
I am pleased to share with you that we have reached an important milestone
in our pending acquisition of Independence Community Bank Corp. On January 25,
Independence shareholders overwhelmingly approved our merger agreement and we
look forward to completing that transaction by the end of the second quarter
as planned.
I also want to alert you to a new and very disturbing development in the
massive public relations campaign being waged by Ralph Whitworth and David
Batchelder of Relational Investors against Sovereign, its directors and its
management.
In November, I wrote to Sovereign shareholders cautioning that this
activist hedge fund had taken the playbook from the most negative of political
campaigns and transplanted those tactics for use in its assault against
Sovereign. Now, Relational has openly revealed its use of these tactics.
Relational has hired FYI Messaging, a firm run by Thomas Synhorst, a well-
known political operative who has been at the center of many controversial and
highly contentious political campaigns in recent years. It comes as no
surprise to us that Mr. Synhorst is now allied with Relational.
FYI Messaging, at Relational's direction, is phoning Sovereign's
shareholders and asking what we believe are a series of loaded and misleading
questions under the false pretense of making a "courtesy" call. In what we see
as an attempt at misdirection and deception, the "script" being used by FYI
Messaging has them telling you, "This is not a sales call and we are not
soliciting proxies with respect to Sovereign at this time. This is a short
courtesy call to you ... "
According to Relational's regulatory filing, FYI Messaging will employ
approximately 30 people to make these phone calls to you. These paid political
operatives will ask you a series of scripted questions designed to elicit
particular responses and reactions. This is what is known in political circles
as "push polling." Such tactics are frequently used in negative political
campaigns, and we believe go far beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior in
communicating with shareholders of public corporations.
If Relational's political polling firm phones you at home or in your
office, do not be misled by their deceptive "courtesy call" introduction or
their scripted questions. You are by no means obligated to take their call or
answer their questions.
Please feel free to let us know if you receive one of these phone calls
and inform us if you found anything on the call to be inappropriate or
offensive. This is the only way for us to monitor their conduct and take
whatever actions may be needed to protect our shareholders. You can contact
one of the firms assisting us on this matter, Innisfree M&A Incorporated
(toll-free) at 1-877-456-3507 or MacKenzie Partners (toll-free) at
1-800-322-2885. You can also contact Sovereign's Investor Relations Department
at 1-800-628-2673 and leave a message.
I sincerely regret that Relational, in pursuit of its own agenda, appears
intent on bothering you with telephone calls from political operatives and
manipulative push polling tactics. Once again, I thank you for your patience
and support.
Sincerely,
/s/
Jay Sidhu
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") (NYSE: SOV), is the parent company
of Sovereign Bank, a $64 billion financial institution with more than 650
community banking offices, over 1,000 ATMs and approximately 10,000 team
members with principal markets in the Northeast United States. Sovereign
offers a broad array of financial services and products including retail
banking, business and corporate banking, cash management, capital markets,
trust and wealth management and insurance. Sovereign is the 18th largest
banking institution in the United States. For more information on Sovereign
Bank, visit http://www.sovereignbank.com or call 1-877-SOV-BANK.
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. and its directors and officers may be deemed to be
participants in the solicitation of proxies from shareholders of Sovereign in
connection with the election of directors at the 2006 annual meeting of
shareholders. Information regarding the names of Sovereign's directors and
executive officers and their respective interests in Sovereign by security
holdings or otherwise is set forth in Sovereign's proxy statement relating to
the 2005 annual meeting of shareholders, which may be obtained free of charge
at the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov and Sovereign's website at
http://www.sovereignbank.com. Additional information regarding the interests
of such potential participants will be included in the Proxy Statement and
other relevant documents to be filed with the SEC in connection with
Sovereign's 2006 annual meeting of shareholders.
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc. will file a Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A with
the SEC in connection with its 2006 annual meeting of shareholders, which,
when filed, will be available free of charge at the SEC's website at
http://www.sec.gov. Investors and security holders are advised to read
Sovereign's Proxy Statement, when available, and the other materials to be
filed by Sovereign related to the proxy solicitation, when available, because
they will contain important information. Investors and security holders may
obtain a free copy of the Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A and all other
related material to be filed by Sovereign with the SEC (when they are filed
and become available) free of charge at the SEC's website at
http://www.sec.gov or by contacting Sovereign's proxy solicitors, Innisfree
M&A Incorporated at 1-888-750-5834 or Mackenzie Partners, Inc. at
1-800-322-2885. Sovereign also will provide a copy of these materials without
charge at the Investor Relations section of its website at
http://www.sovereignbank.com.
SOURCE Sovereign Bancorp, Inc.
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.sovereignbank.com
CONTACT:
FINANCIAL CONTACTS: Mark McCollom,
+1-610-208-6426, mmccollo@sovereignbank.com, or Stacey Weikel,
+1-610-208-6112, sweikel@sovereignbank.com, or MEDIA CONTACTS: Ed
Shultz, +1-610-207-8753, eshultz1@sovereignbank.com, all of
Sovereign Bancorp; or Mike Pascale or Tom Johnson of The
Abernathy MacGregor Group, +1-212-371-5999
|
