Penn Entertainment will name Johnny Hartnett and Carlos Roiseanchez for the election to his board of directors, in the middle of the current tensions with the shareholder HG Vora Capital Management.
The two candidates have already been offered by the activist investor.
Despite the discussions between the two parties, Penn revealed last Friday (April 25) that no agreement was concluded with Hg Vora, which was Press for significant changes Following a strong criticism of Penn’s strategy and shareholders’ yields.
The upheaval of the Board of Directors intervenes when the longtime director, Ron Naples, retires immediately, while Barbara Shattuck Kohn and Saul Reibstein informed the company that they will not ask for re -election during his annual meeting in 2025.
With the changes, the Penn board of directors will include eight administrators, including seven independents.
“Important value creation opportunity”
Penn said that following an examination of the board appointment and governance committee of the board of directors, Ruiisanchez (left photo) and Hartnett (photo on the right) were selected to fill two seats of class II director which will be voted at the next annual meeting.
“We are impatient to benefit from the new perspectives of Johnny and Carlos while we are entering a critical phase for the company,” Penn said in a statement.
“The board of directors continues to believe that there is an important opportunity to create value in Penn, in particular in our interactive segment.
“Johnny and Carlos provide an essential expertise and experience in the game industry, both digital and commercial, which are aligned with the priorities of the board of directors and adapted to opportunities before us.
“Although we have not been able to reach an agreement with HG Vora, we thank them for their contribution and we are delighted with the continuous commitment to all our shareholders,” added Penn.
Hartnett was recently CEO of Superbt Group, where he led growth and transformation efforts between 2019 and 2023 before joining his board of directors at the beginning of 2024.
Previously, he held several management positions at Paddy Power Betfair, now Flutter Entertainment, in particular by supervising his international operations and his initiatives of mergers and acquisitions.
Meanwhile, Roiseanchez is currently CEO of Sorelle Capital and president of Sorelle Hospitality.
He was previously president and financial director of Pinnacle Entertainment, playing a key role until the company’s sale in 2018, and earlier in his career occupied senior investment banking roles at Bear Stearns.
Hg Vora Criticism
Penn’s announcement follows a decision by HG Vora at the end of January to appoint his own list of administrators – including Hartnett and Ruiisanchez – as part of a wider campaign to revise the management of the company.
The investment company based in New York, previously the largest unique shareholder in Penn, reduced his stake Earlier this year to comply with regulatory requirements before a potential proxy battle.
In a strongly formulated letter, the founder of HG Vora, Parag Vora, accused Penn’s board of directors of supervising nearly $ 4 billion in reckless expenditure in too expensive acquisitions and media partnerships, arguing that the company’s interactive division strategy was “abject failure”.
At the time, the company highlighted an 81% drop in Penn equity prices in the past four years, considerably underperforming the S&P 500 and the Boyd Gaming industry rival.
More recently, Penn’s shares have continued to fight, down 18.8% in the last six months.
It is not clear if HG Vora will continue to put pressure for wider changes or to withdraw its challenge during the annual meeting, which has not yet been scheduled.