Axcelis Technologies Inc. has nominated two new members to its board of directors in an effort to appease one of its main investors, Vertex Capital Advisors LLC.
Vertex, which owns about 6.7 percent of outstanding common stock in Axcelis, issued a harsh statement in February saying it was unhappy with recent moves by Axcelis, including recent nominations to its board of directors. Vertex said the nominations were an effort to "obscure and divert attention" from the problems the company has been facing. As a result, Vertex said it had no confidence in the board of directors and was seeking immediate change to appease its investment—which at this point stands at $20 million.
Axcelis took action by nominating Richard J. Faubert and John T. Kurtzweil to its board as candidates to be considered at the upcoming stockholders meeting scheduled for May 13. Vertex then withdrew its prior director nominations and agreed to certain voting provisions, including voting in favor of the nominees at the stockholder meeting.
Eric Singer, founder of Vertex, said in a statement he believed Axcelis was "moving in the right direction" with the nominations and that the two nominees have the right backgrounds to achieve the change Vertex is looking for in the company.
Kurtzweil is the former chief financial officer of Cree and Extreme Networks. Faubert has served in executive positions for Novellus, AmberWave and Electro Scientific Industries Inc.
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