Atari Restructuring Criticized By Investors

Following Infogrames' recent corporate restructuring of Atari's board, which saw the removal of five out of eight board members and the appointment of a restructuring director without game industry experience, investor Coghill Capital Management has contacted the Atari's Board of Directors to express "serious concerns" regarding the moves. At the same time, Wendell Adair, Eugene I. Davis, James B. Shein and Bradley Eric Scher were named as new independent directors at Atari. They joined the three extant board members Evence-Charles Coppée, Jean-Michel Perbet and Thomas Schmider. In the SEC filing, Coghill expressed strong disapproval for the restructuring, saying, "These actions were taken without cause, without notice and without a shareholders' meeting, and in our opinion is just the culmination in Infogrames' treatment of the Issuer as its private source of assets and funds, and its oppression of the public shareholders." Coghill, who owns 1,264,145 shares in Atari, demanded that Atari's Board of Directors immediately reconstitute itself with a majority of independent directors, re-establish an independent audit committee, and "put an end to the sweetheart agreements with Infogrames,". The investor also asked that the Board "seek compensation from Infogrames and the Issuer's management for the serious damage they have caused both the Issuer and its public shareholders." The investor added that unless their conditions were met, they would not acquire further shares or approve significant corporate transactions or reorganizations, though they reserve the right to do so in the future.