ConMed investor files proxy materials to nominate three directors

UTICA, N.Y. — Voce Capital Management LLC today announced it has filed a definitive proxy statement for the nomination of three independent directors for election to the board of directors of ConMed Corp. (NASDAQ: CNMD).

The board-member election for ConMed, a Utica–based surgical-device maker, will take place at the company’s annual meeting scheduled for Sept. 10.

San Francisco, Calif.–based Voce announced its filing in a Thursday news release.

Voce Capital Management owns about 0.3 percent of the outstanding shares of ConMed common stock, according to the California firm’s “most recent” disclosure to ConMed, the Utica company said in a July 29 news release.

Voce earlier this year delivered to ConMed a notice of its intention to nominate four directors for election to the company’s board of directors at the upcoming annual meeting, according to the Utica firm.

The Voce filing detailed in today’s news release only indicates three nominees.

Voce is nominating James Green, CEO of Analogic (NASDAQ: ALOG); Joshua Levine, CEO of Accuray (NASDAQ: ARAY); and J. Daniel Plants, managing partner of Voce.

All three are ConMed stockholders, according to Voce.

Voce also mailed a letter to its fellow shareholders today articulating its view of the current board’s “deficits of skill and independence,” according to Voce’s news release.

ConMed shareholders are “well aware” that Voce has waged a “multi-month campaign to unlock shareholder value” at ConMed, an effort that started last November, the California firm said.

Even the ConMed board has “conceded” that many of the reforms that Voce had called for, and that the board secured for shareholders, have been “extraordinary positive changes for ConMed,” according to the Voce news release.

Voce’s news release follows a statement that ConMed had posted on its website this past Monday urging stockholders to vote for its eight “highly qualified and experienced” director nominees, who include Brian Concannon, Charles Farkas, Jo Ann Golden, Curt Hartman, Dirk Kuyper, Jerome Lande, Stephen Mandia, and Mark Tryniski.

ConMed had announced in its July 29 news release that Voce had “rejected” its offer regarding the board-member election

In order to avoid the “distraction” of a proxy contest, ConMed said it offered to nominate Voce’s nominee, Josh Levine, to ConMed’s board.

But Voce rejected ConMed’s offer and “insisted” that the company’s director nominees include J. Daniel Plants, Voce’s managing partner, as part of any settlement agreement, according to ConMed’s July 29 statement.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com