(Reuters) - Activist hedge fund Voce Capital Management LLC on Monday threatened it would start a proxy war at Air Methods Corp, saying the U.S. medical helicopter company needed an urgent change of directors and strategy.
The move by Voce – which has long advocated that Air Methods, in which it has a stake of about 2.86 percent, sell itself – comes 10 months after it backed off a similar threat after the company agreed to board changes and address stockholder concerns.
Since then, Air Methods added one Voce nominee to its board. But the hedge fund said on Monday that "the Board did not faithfully fulfill its contractual obligation to pursue" an amendment to its bylaws to destagger the board so all directors would be elected annually.
Voce also said that Air Methods' board still had no credible plan to create stockholder value and that a meeting with the chairman late last year also did not satisfy the hedge fund's concerns about the company's plan to boost stockholder value.
"The time for incremental tweaks has long passed, and stockholder patience is exhausted. Much more sweeping changes are required, including substantial reform of the Board and strategy, and we intend to pursue them vigorously," Voce said.
The hedge funds said that if the board refused to work with them, it would seek to elect new independent directors at the company's annual shareholder meeting.
Air Methods, which has a market capitalization of $1.3 billion, could not be immediately reached for comment.
The company's shares were down 1.5 percent at $35.75 in morning trading. The stock is down nearly 4 percent since it reached the standstill agreement with Voce in March last year.