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Canadian Crypto Wars: Mogo Nominates Independent Candidate to WonderFi Board, Supports KAOS Capital's Call for 'Fundamental Transformation'
Monday, April 1, 2024Company Profile | Follow Company
Vancouver, BC, April 1, 2024--(T-Net)--Mogo Inc. (NASDAQ:MOGO) (TSX:MOGO), has announced that, pursuant to its investor rights agreement ("IRA") with WonderFi Technologies, and the Company's right to nominate one director for election to the Board of Directors of WonderFi, it has nominated experienced technology and financial executive, Christoper Payne, for election to the Board at WonderFi's upcoming 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.
Mogo said in a release that it is WonderFi's largest shareholder, holding approximately 87 million common shares (~13% ownership interest) of WonderFi.
Mogo also announced that it has entered into a voting agreement with KAOS Capital Ltd. supporting a slate of new directors at WonderFi.
KAOS' press release entitled "Activist Adam Arviv Announces Intent to Nominate New Slate of Directors to the Board of WonderFi" may be found at the following link.
"Chris will bring a proven track record of value creation and important sector and market-level expertise to the WonderFi board at a critical time in the company's development," said Greg Feller, President & Co-Founder of Mogo. "Chris's time in Silicon Valley in the electronic payments space as a co-founder with Elon Musk of online bank X.com, and as an investor in, and advisor to mid-market growth technology companies, will be a valuable resource to WonderFi as it seeks to leverage its current market position into sustainable, profitable growth."
Mr. Feller added, "Earlier today, we also entered into a voting agreement with KAOS Capital, expressing support for their call for a fundamental transformation of the WonderFi board. Over the past several months we have tried to constructively engage the WonderFi board on a number of important topics, including senior additions to the management team to assist with strategy and investor relations. Mogo has invested over $100 million to build its current position in WonderFi, and the goal of our recommendations was to help WonderFi capitalize on its position as the only fully regulated crypto exchange in Canada. Unfortunately, WonderFi has refused to engage on these items which we view as critical to the company's success. We feel that new perspectives and experience are urgently required at the WonderFi board level to realize the full value of the WonderFi business for all shareholders."
In addition to Mogo agreeing to support the five individuals to be put forth by KAOS Capital for election to the Board at the 2024 Meeting, under the voting agreement between KAOS Capital and Mogo, KAOS Capital has agreed to a standstill in respect of purchasing additional securities of WonderFi to ensure that Mogo's obligations, and those of its joint actors, with respect to the standstill provisions under the IRA are complied with, ensuring that Mogo's history of full compliance with its obligations under the IRA to-date continues through to the 2024 Meeting.
Christopher Payne
Christopher Payne has deep experience in M&A and private equity with a strong focus on the technology sector. He is the Managing Partner and Founder of Hawthorn Equity Partners, a leading middle market private equity firm launched in 2005.
Previously, Mr. Payne was a Managing Director within the Merchant Banking Group of CIBC. Prior to CIBC, he was an entrepreneur and investor in Silicon Valley. Mr. Payne co-founded X.com with Elon Musk and other partners in 1999. X.com ultimately merged with another entity to became PayPal.
Mr. Payne also worked at BMO Nesbitt Burns in M&A and later helped start BMO Nesbitt Burns Equity Partners, a North American mid-market focused merchant bank. He holds an Honour's Bachelor's Degree in Commerce from Queen's University and an MBA from The Wharton School.
Meanwhile, WonderFi has fired back with its own news release saying in essence that "Mogo engaged in an attempt to gain control of WonderFi without paying a premium to shareholders". See T-Net's related coverage here.
About Mogo
Mogo Inc. (NASDAQ:MOGO; TSX:MOGO) is a digital wealth and payments company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada with more than 2 million members, $9.9B in annual payments volume and a ~13% equity stake in Canada's leading Crypto Exchange WonderFi (TSX:WNDR).
Mogo offers simple digital solutions to help its members dramatically improve their path to wealth-creation and financial freedom. MOGO offers commission-free stock trading that helps users thoughtfully invest based on a Warren Buffett approach to long-term investing - while also making a positive impact with every investment. Moka offers Canadians a real alternative to mutual funds and wealth managers that overcharge and underperform with a fully managed investing solution based on the proven outperformance of an S&P 500 strategy, and at a fraction of the cost.
Through its wholly owned digital payments subsidiary, Carta Worldwide, Mogo also offers a low-cost payments platform that powers next-generation card programs for companies across Europe and Canada. The Company, which was founded in 2003, has approximately 200 employees across its offices in Vancouver, Toronto, London & Casablanca.
Additional Details on Company Announcement Early Warning Report and Voting Agreement On March 27, 2024 last week, Mogo and KAOS Capital entered into the Voting Agreement. As a result of entering into the Voting Agreement, Mogo and KAOS Capital may be deemed joint actors for purposes of National Instrument 62-104 - Take-Over Bids and Issuer Bids ("NI 62-104"). In accordance with the requirements of NI 62-104, Mogo will file an early warning report under WonderFi's SEDAR+ profile as a result of a change in material fact contained in its most recently filed early warning report dated August 25, 2023. The early warning report is not being filed pursuant to any acquisition or disposition of securities of WonderFi. [ MORE ] |
Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, including statements regarding the growth potential of Mogo's portfolio companies. [ MORE ] |
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