Mentor Graphics Corp. (NASDAQ: MENT) today issued the following
open letter to the shareholders of Mentor Graphics regarding the
company’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders scheduled for May 12,
2011.
The Mentor Graphics Board strongly recommends that Mentor
Graphics shareholders vote FOR the company’s director nominees on
the WHITE proxy card and
discard any proxy materials received from Carl Icahn.
April 25, 2011
Dear Fellow Mentor Graphics Shareholders:
Our Annual Meeting of Shareholders is less than three weeks
away. Your Board of Directors urges you to support the team that
has delivered excellent results and created value for
shareholders.
Carl Icahn is trying to replace three of Mentor Graphics’
nominees with his own, hand-picked nominees. Icahn’s primary aim is
to provide himself with liquidity through a public sale process
that is risky and is likely to destroy the shareholder value that
your company has created.
SUPPORT THE BOARD THAT HAS DELIVERED
EXCELLENT RESULTS AND VALUE CREATION BY ELECTING MENTOR GRAPHICS’
NOMINEES
Under the leadership of your current Board, Mentor Graphics has
focused on areas of EDA where we have number one positions or the
potential to have number one positions and high growth
non-traditional EDA markets such as transportation. We are
confident that by continuing to execute this strategy, Mentor
Graphics’ growth will continue to exceed the underlying growth of
traditional EDA. The strength of this strategy is reflected in
Mentor Graphics’ stock price, which has outperformed its two
closest competitors — Synopsys, Inc. and Cadence Design Automation,
Inc. — and general market indices, over the relevant one, three and
five year periods.
Mentor Synopsys
Cadence
NASDAQComposite
MentorRank
1 Year 51% 15% 35% 12% #1
3 Years 58% 21% (9)% 19% #1
5 Years 27% 22% (46)% 21%
#1
Our expectations for the current fiscal year are
excellent:
- We project higher revenues, greater
earnings and improved operating margins in the current fiscal
year;
- We expect to generate significant cash
flow over the next few years; and
- We intend to use cash flow generated by
Mentor Graphics’ growth and increasing margins to return
approximately $150 million of capital to shareholders through stock
repurchases or dividends over the next three years.
REJECT THE RISKY PLATFORM FOR ICAHN’S
NOMINEES OF A PUBLIC SALE PROCESS — IT COULD SERIOUSLY HARM
YOUR COMPANY
Although he has recently tried to articulate new plans for his
nominees to execute, Icahn’s “Plan A” still remains a risky and
potentially destructive public sale process for your company — a
process that is designed for Icahn to profitably exit the position
he has taken in Mentor Graphics.
- Icahn continues to ignore the
regulatory obstacles to any transaction with Synopsys or Cadence,
despite knowing that the analysis we recently performed shows that
serious regulatory risks to any transaction with Synopsys or
Cadence remain.
- Icahn continues to ignore the
destruction of value through loss of customers and employees from
any failed process to sell the company.
ICAHN’S “PLAN B” IS NOTHING MORE THAN AN
ATTEMPT TO USURP THE PLAN YOUR BOARD IS ALREADY EXECUTING
In an implicit acknowledgement that his “Plan A” is not
workable, Icahn now touts a “Plan B.” “Plan B” is not truly a plan
at all. It is simply an attempt to usurp two elements of your
Board’s current strategy as Icahn’s own — SG&A expense
reduction and share repurchase — in each case, with no details or
new suggestions from Icahn.
- We have recently informed you of our
reductions in non-GAAP SG&A expense by over 500 basis points as
a percentage of revenue in the last two years. We are on track to
reduce non-GAAP SG&A expense by approximately 200 basis points
as a percentage of revenue in our current fiscal year.
- The resulting operating margin
expansion — which continues our momentum towards achieving our goal
of 20% operating margins — should drive improvements in
profitability and free cash flow.
- We announced our intention to use this
strong free cash flow to return approximately $150 million in
capital to shareholders before Icahn came up with his “Plan
B.”
In short, there is simply nothing new in Icahn’s “Plan B” that
Mentor Graphics is not already doing.
ICAHN IS DISTORTING HIS NOMINEES’
QUALIFICATIONS AND THEIR RELEVANCE TO MENTOR GRAPHICS
- José Maria Alapont. While
Alapont may have demonstrated leadership as the CEO of Federal
Mogul, controlled by Icahn when it came out of bankruptcy and now
76% owned by Icahn, Icahn’s assertion that Alapont’s industry
knowledge is applicable to Mentor Graphics demonstrates how poorly
Icahn understands our business.Mentor Graphics provides solutions
to companies that design systems and subsystems involving complex
layouts and electrical circuitry, such as wire harnesses within
airplanes and cars. In contrast, Mr. Alapont’s company is focused
on components such as piston rings, bearings, and brake pads, none
of which use any of our products.In fact, in 2010 we asked Icahn to
introduce us to his portfolio companies, and we met with Federal
Mogul’s engineering team. We are open to help from Icahn or anyone
else, but we were unable to find any fit with our products, and to
date, Federal Mogul is not a customer.
- Gary Meyers. Icahn states that
Meyers is “uniquely qualified” through his experience as a CEO of
Synplicity, a small-cap EDA company with approximately 330
employees that generated less than $75 million of annual
revenues.Icahn seeks to disguise Meyers’ real track record, stating
only that Synplicity received a significant premium in the sale to
Synopsys. Icahn conveniently ignores the poor performance of
Synplicity. For example, Synplicity’s average SG&A expense as a
percentage of revenue as a public company was 53%, considerably
higher than the figures Icahn complains about at Mentor
Graphics.Icahn also fails to recognize that, despite the
significant premium, Synplicity’s sale price of $8.00 per share was
exactly the same price at which it began trading on its IPO eight
years earlier. Meyers was an officer of the company during this
entire period.We do not understand how Mr. Meyers’ experience in
EDA can even be compared to the experience of Dr. Fontaine
Richardson, a pioneer of the EDA software industry and one of the
directors whom Icahn seeks to replace.
- David Schechter. Icahn tries to
give Schechter credit for his service as a director of Hain
Celestial Group, Inc. What Icahn fails to mention is the
significant shareholder value destruction at WCI Communities,
shares of which declined 97% during Schechter’s tenure as a
director, or BKF Capital, where the company generated a negative
shareholder return prior to Schechter's resignation only six months
after joining the Board.Icahn also touts Schechter’s connection to
Icahn Sourcing but fails to disclose that Mentor Graphics asked
Icahn and Schechter to help evaluate potential cost savings through
Icahn Sourcing in 2010. Ultimately, Icahn Sourcing was unable to
provide any significant cost savings solutions to Mentor
Graphics.
ICAHN IS DISTORTING MENTOR GRAPHICS’
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE TRACK RECORD
- Cadence’s Unsuccessful Bid for
Mentor Graphics. Icahn cites Cadence’s June 2008 letter
withdrawing its acquisition proposal as somehow indicative of
Mentor Graphics’ failure of corporate governance. The facts are
that immediately prior to the withdrawal Cadence: (1) announced
that it significantly reduced its revenue and earnings guidance and
suffered an immediate 31% drop in its stock price; (2) received a
second request from the FTC regarding the antitrust implications of
its proposal for Mentor Graphics; and (3) lost the support of its
commercial bankers to finance its proposal for Mentor Graphics.
Within sixty days of the withdrawal of Cadence’s offer, the CEO and
four of the five other officers named in Cadence’s prior proxy left
the company.Icahn’s suggestion that Cadence’s withdrawal resulted
from Mentor Graphics’ governance practices simply defies
logic.
- Shareholder Rights Plan. Icahn
states that Mentor Graphics implemented a rights plan shortly after
the disclosure of his accumulation of Mentor Graphics shares. In
truth, the rights plan was adopted approximately one month after
Icahn filed his first 13D on May 27, 2010, disclosing 6.86%
ownership, and only after he twice reported increases in his
stake.Icahn’s history of creeping accumulations of stock at
LionsGate Entertainment and other companies shows why your Board’s
action was a prudent step to prevent Icahn from taking control of
the company without paying Mentor Graphics’ other shareholders a
control premium.
- Meeting Date. Icahn’s criticism
of the meeting date for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders is
misplaced on a number of scores. The May 12th meeting date is
consistent with Mentor Graphics’ historical practice. Moreover, the
timing of our Annual Meeting clearly did not impede the nomination
of directors by shareholders; we received notice of a total of six
nominees from two different shareholders within 10 days of
announcing our meeting date.
ICAHN’S ASSERTION THAT OUR ISSUANCE OF
SHARES HAS DESTROYED SHAREHOLDER VALUE IS SIMPLY WRONG
Icahn wants you to believe that Mentor Graphics’ share issuances
have been destructive to shareholder value. This simply is not the
case.
In the past five fiscal years, starting from December 2006,
Mentor Graphics has issued incremental shares for two primary
purposes: to make bolt-on acquisitions and through the Employee
Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP).
- Acquisitions have accounted for 38% of
incremental shares and have resulted in the addition of businesses
such as LogicVision and Valor.
- These acquisitions have bolstered our
competitive position significantly in applications such as Design
for Test and Printed Circuit Board.
- The ESPP accounted for 47% of the
incremental shares.
- The ESPP is a program in which
approximately 65% of our eligible US employees participate.
- Employee stock options and Restricted
Stock Units were the smallest component, accounting for
approximately 15% of the total.
- In fact, over the last five years,
Mentor Graphics’ average annual stock based compensation as a
percentage of revenue and our average annual grants of options and
awards of Restricted Stock Units as a percentage of our shares, or
burn rate, are each lower than those at Cadence and Synopsys.
We believe that these issuances of shares have contributed to an
overall increase in shareholder value, helping Mentor Graphics’
stock price performance exceed that of Cadence, Synopsys and the
NASDAQ Index in the past one, three and five year periods.
MENTOR GRAPHICS’ NOMINEES ARE PART OF A
BOARD AND MANAGEMENT TEAM THAT HAVE THE RIGHT STRATEGY TO DELIVER
CONTINUED SHAREHOLDER VALUE CREATION
Your Board unanimously believes that continued execution of our
strategic plan offers the greatest value to all Mentor Graphics
shareholders and urges shareholders to reject Icahn’s platform and
his nominees.
Your management has had numerous conversations and meetings with
Icahn’s representatives. They never made suggestions regarding
Mentor Graphics’ SG&A expense or stock repurchases — nor did
they raise the subject of board representation for Icahn during the
period of more than eight months between the time when Icahn took
his initial stake in Mentor Graphics and the nomination of his
slate. Icahn’s alleged new ideas, borrowed directly from what your
Board is already doing, are simply a shallow attempt to find a
reason for you to elect his nominees.
Your Board firmly believes that the likely outcome of Icahn’s
“Plan A” of a public sale process would result in a failure to sell
the company that would seriously harm your company’s relationship
with its customers and employees. Icahn’s “Plan B” is nothing more
than an attempt by Icahn to recycle two elements of Mentor
Graphics’ existing strategy and present them as his own. You do
not need new directors to do what your Board is already doing
today.
Your vote is important and we urge you to
vote for your Board’s nominees TODAY by telephone, Internet or by
signing, dating and returning the WHITE proxy card.
On behalf of your Board of Directors, we appreciate your support
and continued interest in Mentor Graphics. If you have any
questions please contact MacKenzie Partners, Inc., which is
assisting us in connection with this year’s Annual Meeting, at
(212) 929−5500 or TOLL−FREE at (800) 322−2885.
Sincerely,
/s/
Walden C. RhinesChairman of the Board and Chief Executive
Officer
If you have any questions, require
assistance in voting your shares, or needadditional copies
of Mentor Graphics’ proxy materials, please call MacKenzie
Partnersat the phone numbers listed below.
MacKenzie Partners, Inc.105 Madison
AvenueNew York, NY 10016(212) 929-5500 (call collect)OrTOLL-FREE
(800) 322-2885
Important Information
On March 31, 2011, the company filed a definitive proxy
statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”)
in connection with the company’s upcoming 2011 annual meeting of
shareholders. Shareholders are advised to read the company’s
definitive proxy statement and any other relevant documents filed
by the company with the SEC, before making any voting or investment
decision because they contain important information. The definitive
proxy statement is, and any other relevant documents and other
material filed with the SEC concerning the company will be, when
filed, available free of charge at http://www.sec.gov and http://www.mentor.com/company/investor_relations.
In addition, copies of the proxy materials may be requested from
the company’s proxy solicitor, MacKenzie Partners, Inc., by
telephone at 1-800-322-2885 or by email at proxy@mackenziepartners.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this material regarding the company’s outlook for
future periods constitute “forward-looking” statements based on
current expectations within the meaning of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the
actual results, performance or achievements of the company or
industry results to be materially different from any results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the
following: (i) weakness or recession in the US, EU, Japan or other
economies; (ii) the company’s ability to successfully offer
products and services that compete in the highly competitive EDA
industry; (iii) product bundling or discounting of products and
services by competitors, which could force the company to lower its
prices or offer other more favorable terms to customers; (iv)
possible delayed or canceled customer orders, a loss of key
personnel or other consequences resulting from the business
disruption and uncertainty of prolonged proxy fights, offers to
purchase the company’s securities or other actions of activist
shareholders; (v) effects of the increasing volatility of foreign
currency fluctuations on the company’s business and operating
results; (vi) changes in accounting or reporting rules or
interpretations; (vii) the impact of tax audits by the IRS or other
taxing authorities, or changes in the tax laws, regulations or
enforcement practices where the company does business; (viii)
effects of unanticipated shifts in product mix on gross margin; and
(ix) effects of customer seasonal purchasing patterns and the
timing of significant orders, which may negatively or positively
impact the company’s quarterly results of operations, all as may be
discussed in more detail under the heading “Risk Factors” in the
company’s most recent Form 10-K or Form 10-Q. Given these
uncertainties, prospective investors are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The company
disclaims any obligation to update any such factors or to publicly
announce the results of any revisions to any of the forward-looking
statements to reflect future events or developments.
Discussion of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
The company’s management evaluates and makes operating decisions
using various performance measures. In addition to our GAAP
results, we also consider adjusted gross margin, operating margin,
net income (loss), and earnings (loss) per share which we refer to
as non-GAAP gross margin, operating margin, net income (loss), and
earnings (loss) per share, respectively. These non-GAAP measures
are derived from the revenues of our product, maintenance, and
services business operations and the costs directly related to the
generation of those revenues, such as cost of revenue, research and
development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative
expenses, that management considers in evaluating our ongoing core
operating performance. These non-GAAP measures exclude amortization
of intangible assets, special charges, equity plan-related
compensation expenses and charges, interest expense attributable to
net retirement premiums or discounts on the early retirement of
debt and associated debt issuance costs, interest expense
associated with the amortization of debt discount and premium on
convertible debt, impairment of long-lived assets, impairment of
cost method investments, and the equity in income or losses of
unconsolidated entities (except Frontline P.C.B. Solutions Limited
Partnership (Frontline)), which management does not consider
reflective of our core operating business.
Identified intangible assets consist primarily of purchased
technology, backlog, trade names, customer relationships and
employment agreements. Special charges primarily consist of costs
incurred for employee terminations due to a reduction of personnel
resources driven by modifications of business strategy or business
emphasis. Special charges may also include expenses incurred
related to potential acquisitions, abandonment of in-process
research and development, excess facility costs, asset-related
charges, post-acquisition rebalance costs and restructuring costs,
including severance and benefits.
Equity plan-related compensation expenses represent the fair
value of all share-based payments to employees, including grants of
employee stock options. For purposes of comparability across other
periods and against other companies in our industry, non-GAAP net
income (loss) is adjusted by the amount of additional tax expense
or benefit that we would accrue using the normalized effective tax
rate described below applied to the non-GAAP results.
Management excludes from our non-GAAP measures certain recurring
items to facilitate its review of the comparability of our core
operating performance on a period-to-period basis because such
items are not related to our ongoing core operating performance as
viewed by management. Management considers our core operating
performance to be that which can be affected by our managers in any
particular period through their management of the resources that
affect our underlying revenue and profit generating operations
during that period. Management uses this view of our operating
performance for purposes of comparison with our business plan and
individual operating budgets and allocation of resources.
Additionally, when evaluating potential acquisitions, management
excludes the items described above from its consideration of target
performance and valuation. More specifically, management adjusts
for the excluded items for the following reasons:
- Amortization charges for our intangible
assets are excluded as they are inconsistent in amount and
frequency and are significantly impacted by the timing and
magnitude of our acquisition transactions. We therefore consider
our operating results without these charges when evaluating our
core performance. Generally, the most significant impact to
inter-period comparability of our net income (loss) is in the first
twelve months following an acquisition.
- Special charges are incurred based on
the particular facts and circumstances of acquisition and
restructuring decisions and can vary in size and frequency. These
charges are excluded as they are not ordinarily included in our
annual operating plan and related budget due to the
unpredictability of economic trends and the rapidly changing
technology and competitive environment in our industry. We
therefore exclude them when evaluating our managers’ performance
internally.
- We view equity plan-related
compensation as a key element of our employee retention and
long-term incentives, not as an expense that we use in evaluating
core operations in any given period.
- Interest expense attributable to net
retirement premiums or discounts on the early retirement of debt,
the write-off of associated debt issuance costs and the
amortization of the debt discount and premium on convertible debt
are excluded. Management does not consider these charges as a part
of our core operating performance. The early retirement of debt and
the associated debt issuance costs are not included in our annual
operating plan and related budget due to unpredictability of market
conditions which could facilitate an early retirement of debt. We
do not consider the amortization of the debt discount and premium
on convertible debt to be a direct cost of operations.
- Impairment of cost method investments
can occur when the fair value of the investment is less than its
cost. This can occur when there is a significant deterioration in
the investee’s earnings performance, significant adverse changes in
the general market conditions of the industry in which the investee
operates, or indications that the investee may no longer be able to
conduct business. These charges are inconsistent in amount and
frequency. We therefore consider our operating results without
these charges when evaluating our core performance.
- Equity in earnings or losses of
unconsolidated subsidiaries, with the exception of our investment
in Frontline, represents the net income (losses) in an investment
accounted for under the equity method. The amounts represent our
equity in the net income (losses) of a common stock investment. The
carrying amount of our investment is adjusted for our share of
earnings or losses of the investee. The amounts are excluded as we
do not control the results of operations for these investments, we
do not participate in regular and periodic operating activities and
management does not consider these businesses a part of our core
operating performance.
- In connection with the company’s
acquisition of Valor on March 18, 2010, we also acquired Valor’s
50% interest in Frontline, a joint venture. We report our equity in
the earnings or losses of Frontline within operating income. We
actively participate in regular and periodic activities such as
budgeting, business planning, marketing and direction of research
and development projects. Accordingly, we do not exclude our share
of Frontline’s earnings or losses from our non-GAAP results as
management considers the joint venture to be core to our operating
performance.
- Income tax expense (benefit) is
adjusted by the amount of additional tax expense or benefit that we
would accrue if we used non-GAAP results instead of GAAP results in
the calculation of our tax liability, taking into consideration our
long-term tax structure. We use a normalized effective tax rate of
17%, which reflects the weighted average tax rate applicable under
the various jurisdictions in which we operate. This non-GAAP tax
rate eliminates the effects of non-recurring and period specific
items which are often attributable to acquisition decisions and can
vary in size and frequency and considers our US loss carryforwards
that have not been previously benefited. This rate is subject to
change over time for various reasons, including changes in the
geographic business mix and changes in statutory tax rates. Our
GAAP tax rate for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2011 was 11%.
The GAAP tax rate considers certain mandatory and other
non-scalable tax costs which may adversely or beneficially affect
our tax rate depending upon our level of profitability in various
jurisdictions.
In certain instances our GAAP results of operations may not be
profitable when our corresponding non-GAAP results are profitable
or vice versa. The number of shares on which our non-GAAP earnings
per share is calculated may therefore differ from the GAAP
presentation due to the anti-dilutive effect of stock options in a
loss situation.
Non-GAAP gross margin, operating margin, and net income (loss)
are supplemental measures of our performance that are not required
by, or presented in accordance with, GAAP. Moreover, they should
not be considered as an alternative to any performance measure
derived in accordance with GAAP, or as an alternative to cash flow
from operating activities as a measure of our liquidity. We present
non-GAAP gross margin, operating margin, and net income (loss)
because we consider them to be important supplemental measures of
our operating performance and profitability trends, and because we
believe they give investors useful information on period-to-period
performance as evaluated by management. Non-GAAP net income (loss)
also facilitates comparison with other companies in our industry,
which use similar financial measures to supplement their GAAP
results. Non-GAAP net income (loss) has limitations as an
analytical tool, and therefore should not be considered in
isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as
reported under GAAP. In the future we expect to continue to incur
expenses similar to the non-GAAP adjustments described above and
exclusion of these items in our non-GAAP presentation should not be
construed as an inference that these costs are unusual, infrequent
or non-recurring. Some of the limitations in relying on non-GAAP
net income (loss) are:
- Amortization of intangibles represents
the loss in value as the technology in our industry evolves, is
advanced, or is replaced over time. The expense associated with
this loss in value is not included in the non-GAAP net income
(loss) presentation and therefore does not reflect the full
economic effect of the ongoing cost of maintaining our current
technological position in our competitive industry, which is
addressed through our research and development program.
- We regularly engage in acquisition and
assimilation activities as part of our ongoing business and
regularly evaluate our businesses to determine whether any
operations should be eliminated or curtailed. We therefore will
continue to experience special charges on a regular basis. These
costs also directly impact our available funds.
- We perform impairment analyses on cost
method investments when triggering events occur and adjust the
carrying value of assets when we determine it to be necessary.
Impairment charges could therefore be incurred in any period.
- Our stock option and stock purchase
plans are important components of our incentive compensation
arrangements and will be reflected as expenses in our GAAP
results.
- Our income tax expense (benefit) will
be ultimately based on our GAAP taxable income and actual tax rates
in effect, which often differ significantly from the 17% rate
assumed in our non-GAAP presentation. In addition, if we have a
GAAP loss and non-GAAP net income, our non-GAAP results will not
reflect any projected GAAP tax benefits. Similarly, in the event we
were to have GAAP net income and a non-GAAP loss, our GAAP tax
expense would be replaced by a credit in our non-GAAP
presentation.
- Other companies, including other
companies in our industry, calculate non-GAAP net income (loss)
differently than we do, limiting its usefulness as a comparative
measure.
MENTOR GRAPHICS
CORPORATIONUNAUDITED RECONCILIATION OFGAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES TO
NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES(In thousands, except
percentages)
Year ended January 31,
2011
2010
2009
GAAP Selling, General, and Administrative
(SG&A) expenses
$ 421,205 $ 395,969 $ 412,487 Reconciling items to non-GAAP
SG&A expenses Equity plan-related compensation (11,838 )
(13,610 ) (14,674 ) Non-GAAP SG&A expenses $
409,367 $ 382,359 $ 397,813
Year ended January 31,
2011
2010
2009
GAAP SG&A expenses as a percent of total revenues 46 % 49 % 52
%
Non-GAAP adjustments detailed above
-1 % -1 % -2 % Non-GAAP SG&A expenses as a
percent of total values 45 % 48 % 50 %
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