Sensient Technologies Opposes FrontFour's Four Director Nominees

(RTTNews) - Sensient Technologies Corp. (SXT) said that on Thursday it would strongly oppose FrontFour Capital Group's four director candidates, in the event FrontFour were to file a proxy statement in support of its proposed slate of directors.

On Wednesday, FrontFour Capital Group LLC, together with its affiliates, announced that it notified Sensient Technologies of its intention to nominate four individuals for election to the Board of Directors of the Company at the 2014 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. FrontFour's four independent director nominees were James Henderson, James Hyman, Stephen Loukas and William Redmond, Jr.

Sensient Technologies Thursday said that FrontFour was plainly seeking to exploit Sensient's strong financial position and industry-leading businesses for short-term gains that are not in the long-term interests of Sensient's shareholders and other stakeholders. FrontFour's stated plans would be disruptive and would imperil the continued successful implementation of Sensient's strategy. In afftion, FrontFour's opinion that the Company's capital structure is sub-optimal was incorrect, as it completely ignored the clear benefits of Sensient's very strong balance sheet and credit profile.

FrontFour Capital Group LLC or "FrontFour", investment manager of FrontFour Master Fund, Ltd., is a self-described "event-driven" activist hedge fund from Greenwich, Connecticut. FrontFour and its affiliates only recently acquired an interest in Sensient beginning in July 2013. As of December 31, 2013, FrontFour and its affiliates reported control of approximately 0.7% of Sensient's outstanding shares of common stock. Since December 31, 2013, FrontFour and its affiliates have acquired control over additional shares and currently appear to control approximately 1.5% of Sensient's outstanding shares of common stock.

Sensient Technologies noted that, based upon a preliminary analysis, FrontFour's nominees for Sensient's Board of Directors appear to be career activists with very close relationships to FrontFour, spotty track records on creating shareholder value, questionable motives and little to no experience in the very Flavors and Fragrances business they are allegedly aiming to "fix." Furthermore, their attributes, skills and experience pale in comparison to those of Sensient's current Board of Directors and potential future directors that have been and will continue to be vetted by Sensient's Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.

Sensient also said FrontFour has never approached Sensient with any concerns about the company's results, financial condition, strategy or any other business issue. Instead, FrontFour has chosen to spring its alleged concerns on Sensient in an abrupt manner calculated to cause disruption and to promote FrontFour's self-interested agenda.