ETFS Capital responds to ISS campaign for WisdomTree board change

The company stated: “ETFS Capital Limited, the largest combined owner of common stock, $0.01 par value, and Series A Non-Voting Convertible Preferred Stock of WisdomTree, with ownership of approximately 10% of the outstanding Common Stock, which together with its Series A Preferred Stock would represent approximately 18% of the Company’s outstanding Common Stock on an as-converted basis, responded to reports from Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., and Glass, Lewis & Co, on its campaign for stockholders to vote Against the re-election of the Chairman Win Neuger, Director Anthony Bossone, and CEO and Director Jonathan Steinberg, to the board of directors of WisdomTree as a referendum against long-tenured directors and to demonstrate stockholder support for a truly independent process to maximize stockholder value.” Graham Tuckwell, ETFS Capital Chairman commented: “ISS and Glass Lewis recognize that ETFS Capital has been a driving force for major improvements in WisdomTree’s governance. As the largest stockholder of the Company, we are directly aligned with other stockholders and are acting in our collective best interests. We believe the proxy advisors, however, put too much faith in the management team’s abilities to develop the DeFi business, particularly in the face of what appears to be a spectacular failure to capitalize on the surge of interest in Bitcoin ETFs. As ISS acknowledged, the Company has a poor track record of providing investors with the information they need to evaluate the Board’s approach to capital allocation and the success or failure of key business initiatives. We believe stockholders simply cannot afford another year of lost opportunities and value destruction under this Board and management team. We deliberately chose not to nominate directors for the 2024 Annual Meeting. Despite our success in driving important governance changes, we believe stockholders have not benefitted from those changes due to the Board’s continued intransigence and failure to provide investors with any meaningful information about the DeFi business. We call on our fellow stockholders to join us in sending an unequivocal message to the long-tenured directors and the Board, who refuse to take the steps necessary to unlock value for all stockholders.”