Reuters – Hedge fund Dolphin LP on Tuesday raised the stakes in a fierce proxy fight for control of infoUSA by releasing a letter it says will show shareholders that the database firm’s foundershould be voted off the board.
Dolphin owns a 3.6 percent stake in infoUSA (IUSA.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and is pushing for plans to possibly sell the Omaha, Nebraska-based company by trying to get three directors elected to its board on May 26.
It says the company has a market capitalization of $600 million and ranks a distant sixth among a small group of publicly traded database firms.
But Vinod Gupta, infoUSA’s founder, chairman, chief executive officer and biggest single shareholder with a 40 percent stake, is battling to stay.
In a six-page letter, Gupta told board members on September 7, 2005 that Dolphin “was acting like a bully and pressuring the Board of Directors into selling the company.”
