BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Orthofix International N.V. (NASDAQ: OFIX) (the Company) announced today that the activist hedge fund, Ramius, has been forced to retract a blatantly false and misleading statement about Orthofix Chairman James Gero – a statement that Ramius previously included in a presentation to at least one proxy advisory firm in connection with their ongoing proxy contest with Orthofix.
Ramius’ presentation to RiskMetrics Group, filed as definitive additional soliciting material with the SEC on March 12, 2009, falsely stated that James F. Gero is “Chairman of Clearwire, Inc. – [whose] stock price has declined 88% since the IPO.” In fact, Mr. Gero was not chairman, a board member nor a member of management of this company at the time of its IPO in 2007, and has not been at any time since. By falsely linking Mr. Gero with the sharp price decline of this company, Ramius disparaged Mr. Gero’s professional reputation and misled shareholders about his background. This statement was clearly false and could have easily been confirmed through public sources.
