TORONTO, April 22, 2013 /CNW/ - Today a group of concerned shareholders of Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. ("Bioniche") led by William (Bill) M. Wells, former Chief Executive Officer of Biovail Corporation, and Greg Gubitz, former General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Biovail Corporation announced that they have sent the following letter to the Bioniche board of directors:
VIA E MAIL
April 19, 2013
| To: |
James Rae Chairman, Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. ("Bioniche") |
We are writing this open letter representing a group of concerned shareholders that together own in excess of 5% of Bioniche's outstanding common shares. These shares were acquired for investment purposes.
As you know, members of our group executed the extremely successful turnaround of Biovail Corporation and subsequent merger with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., thereby creating billions of dollars in shareholder value for Biovail's shareholders. Together we have decades of experience in the Life Sciences industry and in fixing troubled businesses. Our track record of creating value for shareholders is clear.
Just as clear is the dismal record of Bioniche's management and board of destroying shareholder value. Bioniche has a consistent history of annual losses, with not one year of positive earnings - ever. The share price has lost over 96% of its value since 1996. The following chart is a clear demonstration of the record of Bioniche's management and board.
Bioniche History of Annual Losses and Share Price Decline.pdf
Despite this obvious failure, the same CEO has managed the company throughout this period. The board has failed in its duty. Bioniche's long suffering shareholders deserve better.
Our group first contacted you in the summer of 2012 to offer our advice and provide tangible solutions to fix the company. We believed then and believe now that there is considerable potential for Bioniche to become a very successful Canadian Life Sciences company. Despite multiple contacts with the management and board, our best efforts to help Bioniche were stalled and dismissed.
Bioniche today is in dire straits. The company is unfocused, over indebted, burning cash and running out of reserves. The track record of management and the board indicates that preserving existing shareholder value, much less generating gains in shareholder value, is unlikely. We now believe the only way to resolve this impasse and generate the action Bioniche desperately needs is to engage in an open dialogue with all shareholders. We intend to publish this letter in order to begin that dialogue.
As significant shareholders of Bioniche we are aware of our rights and the various steps available to us to ensure no further value is destroyed at the company. We caution the board not to take any further measures to entrench the board or management or impair shareholder value in violation of their fiduciary duties and responsibilities to shareholders.
Sincerely,
William (Bill) M. Wells - former CEO Biovail Corporation
Greg Gubitz - former General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development Biovail Corporation
PDF available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2013/04/22/20130422_C7311_DOC_EN_25826.pdf
SOURCE: William (Bill) M. Wells and Greg Gubitz
Greg Gubitz
416.624.6568
[email protected]
Bill Wells
[email protected]
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