Just after Petrus Advisers increased the pressure to oust Temenos management, the minority activist shareholder received reinforcement from a Swiss asset manager.
Among the Temenos shareholder base, distrust of the top management is growing. After the British activist Petrus Advisers, another minority shareholder, Helvetic Trust, joined the camp of rebels demanding the removal of CEO Max Chuard and Chairman Andreas Andreades.
The Zurich-based asset manager became a shareholder in Geneva-based banking software company Temenos several weeks ago, according to a statement Thursday. The financial services provider is now publicly siding with Petrus and at the same time plans to increase pressure on the Geneva-based company by increasing its stake from the current 1 percent.
Accusation of Incompetence
After announcing a profit warning, the shares were punished on the stock market, and criticism of a failed strategy grew louder. This week, Petrus Advisers openly accused the CEO of lying in a letter and demanded the departure of him and the Chairman.
Petrus is also angry because, in the past, management ignored the interest of private equity investors, even though their offers were said to be well above the share price at the time. Since then, the Temenos share price has fallen by around half.
Where does Martin Ebner stand?
So far, the software company has responded calmly to Petrus' accusations. The conversion to a subscription model (SaaS) is progressing well, and the recently discovered problems in sales processing are being tackled. In addition, Temenos welcomes engagement with all shareholders, it said when asked by finews.com.
This dialogue is unlikely to get any easier with the Helvetic Trust adding its voice to the dissidents. The market is likely now wondering if and when Martin Ebner, who holds over 5 percent in Temenos, will speak up.
