UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
SCHEDULE 14A
Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a)
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
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VERMILLION, INC.
(Name of Registrant as Specified In Its Charter)
György B. Bessenyei
Gregory V. Novak
Robert S. Goggin
(Name of Person(s) Filing Proxy Statement, if other than the Registrant)
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On March 11, 2013, György B. Bessenyei, Gregory V. Novak and Robert S. Goggin (collectively, the “Participants”) issued a press release (the “Press Release”) announcing the recommendation of Institutional Shareholder Services to elect the Participants’ nominee to the board of directors of Vermillion, Inc. (“Vermillion”). Additionally, on March 11, 2013, the Participants updated certain information in their website www.savevrml.com (the “Website”) that was originally launched on February 1, 2013.
A copy of the Press Release is attached hereto as Exhibit 1 and a copy of the updated pages from the Website is attached hereto as Exhibit 2. The Press Release and the updated pages from the Website are incorporated herein by reference.
* * *
THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE GROUP’S SOLICITATION OF PROXIES CONSIST OF ONLY MR. BESSENYEI, MR. NOVAK AND MR. GOGGIN (THE MEMBERS OF THE GROUP) AT THIS TIME. THE GROUP HAS FILED SOLICITING MATERIALS, WITH THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION (THE “SEC”) ON SCHEDULE 14A PURSUANT TO RULES 14a-12 AND 14a-6 OF THE RULES AND REGULATIONS PROMULGATED UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS AMENDED. STOCKHOLDERS OF VERMILLION CAN OBTAIN COPIES OF THIS FILING, AS WELL AS PRIOR FILINGS BY THE GROUP PURSUANT TO RULE 14a-12 AND RULE 14a-6, AS WELL AS THE GROUP’S DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT FILED WITH THE SEC ON JANUARY 29, 2013 (THE “PROXY STATEMENT”), WHICH TOGETHER CONTAIN THE REQUIRED INFORMATION UNDER SUCH RULE REGARDING THE IDENTITY AND BACKGROUND OF THE MEMBERS OF THE GROUP, AND A DESCRIPTION OF THEIR DIRECT OR INDIRECT INTERESTS, BY SECURITY HOLDINGS AND OTHERWISE, AT NO CHARGE AT THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION’S WEBSITE AT HTTP://WWW.SEC.GOV.
STOCKHOLDERS ARE ADVISED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE SOLICITATION OF PROXIES BY MEMBERS OF THE GROUP FROM THE STOCKHOLDERS OF VERMILLION, INC. FOR USE AT ITS 2012 ANNUAL MEETING BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION, INCLUDING INFORMATION RELATING TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN SUCH PROXY SOLICITATION. THE PROXY STATEMENT HAS BEEN OR WILL BE FIRST SENT OR GIVEN TO VERMILLION, INC. STOCKHOLDERS ON OR ABOUT FEBRUARY 6, 2013 AND ALSO IS AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE AT THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION’S WEBSITE AT HTTP://WWW.SEC.GOV.
EXHIBIT 1
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) Recommends Vermillion Stockholders Vote the WHITE Proxy Card to Elect Dissident Nominee at Upcoming Annual Meeting
PHILADELPHIA, March 11, 2013- Robert S. Goggin, Gregory V. Novak, and George Bessenyei, stockholders of Vermillion, Inc. (“Vermillion” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ:VRML) acting together as the “Concerned Vermillion Stockholders” or the “Group”, , today announced that Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), a leading independent proxy voting advisory firm, has recommended that Vermillion stockholders vote on Concerned Vermillion Stockholder's WHITE proxy card to elect highly qualified nominee, Robert S. Goggin. ISS recommended that Vermillion shareholders "DO NOT VOTE" on the Company's blue proxy card.
In reaching its conclusion, ISS performed a detailed analysis of both sides' positions in the election contest and, in particular, carefully considered, among other things, the Company's total stockholder return, operating performance and business strategy, as well as the strong experience and qualifications of Robert S. Goggin. ISS concluded that shareholders should vote for Mr. Goggin on the WHITE proxy card saying:
"Goggin, an active significant shareholder, appears comfortable in the role of being an advocate for change. As a long-term significant shareholder, his interests are likely to be aligned with other shareholders” and “ [Goggin] appears to have intimate knowledge of the company's products and challenges, having invested in and followed the company since 2010. In addition, Goggin has advocated for change at the company since early 2011. Goggin also has a track record and experience representing the interest of a large group of individuals (unions)."
Excerpts from ISS' Analysis & Recommendation
"The sustained underperformance supports the dissidents' argument that investor confidence in management's ability to extract value from its product portfolio has diminished.”
Total Shareholder Return:
"It seems the damage to shareholder value and their trust in the company's board has been diminished to the point that is reflective in the company's stock price decline since emerging from bankruptcy. In short, shareholders continue to suffer losses from their investment while the company's share price is at historical lows and the company's future lies uncertain."
ISS' CONCLUSON:
"Given the company's underperformance relative to peers and the MUZUSC Index, its deeply and repeatedly unrealistic revenue guidance for its flagship product OVA1, the board's poor management of the Quest Diagnostic alliance, an apparent disregard for shareholder concerns as represented by the inability to call an annual meeting without a court order and threatened delisting, and the continuing misalignment between performance and executive and board compensation, it seems clear the dissident has made a compelling case that change is warranted at the board level."
"Despite the fact that Vermillion's current board have in the aggregate many years of experience in medical diagnostics, the board has been demonstrably unable to halt the erosion of shareholder value and shareholder confidence, much less to communicate and execute on strategy to grow shareholder value. Shareholders would be better served in injecting a sense of accountability by voting FOR dissident nominee Goggin on the WHITE dissident card."
If you have any questions, require assistance with submitting your WHITE proxy card or need additional copies of the proxy materials, please contact:
Okapi Partners
Patrick McHugh/ Geoffrey Sorbello
(212) 297-0720 or (877) 566-1922 (toll-free)
EXHIBIT 2
3/11/13 SaveVermi l ion-ThewebpageofconcernedVermi l ionstockholders TheGroup TheProblem ThePlan Timeline Contact TheCompensationCounter $13,176,632 Howdidwecalculate? DoNotVoteonTheCompany'sProxyasaProtestvoteforMr.Goggininstead SaveVermilion!EnoughisEnough. News WeareRobertS.Goggin,GregoryV.NovakandGeorge InstitutionalShareholderServices(ISS)Recommends Bessenyei,actingtogetherasthe“ConcernedVermil ion VermilionStockholdersVotetheWHITEProxyCardto Stockholders”orthe“Group.”Asstockholders,amongus ElectDissidentNomineeatUpcomingAnnualMeeting webeneficial yownatotalof250,100sharesofVermil ion March11,2013-"Shareholderswouldbebet erservedininjectingasenseof (VRML)commonstock. accountabilitybyvotingFORdissidentnomineeGogginontheWHITE dissidentcard." WeareseekingyoursupportfortheGroup’soneindependent ConcernedVermilionStockholdersIssueNewLettertoAl directornomineeattheupcoming2012Vermi l ionannualstockholder Stockholders meeting.OurbeliefisthatareconstitutedBoardisstronglyinthebest interestofal theCompany’sstockholders.WebelievetheVermi l ion February26,2013-Wenoticedthatsomestockholderssimplyvotedonthe company’sproxycardagainsttheBoardnominee,apparentlythinkingthat Boardneedsdedicatedstockholderrepresentationbyanewdirector doingsoautomatical ycountsasavoteforMr.Goggin.Thisisnotthe whoseinterestsaremorecloselyalignedwiththeinterestsofal case. stockholders. NewInvestorPresentation OurnomineesisRobertGoggin. HeisalongtermVermi l ion February21,2013-Vermi l ionhasacol ectionofvaluableassetsbutboard stockholderandwi l worktomaximizestockholdervalue.Webelieve andmanagementhavefailedtoachieveful potentialofthecompany.Quality thatthecur entBoardhasnotactedinamannerthathasbenefi t ed ofmanagementandboardofdirectorsisespecial ycrucialnow. thestockholdersoftheCompany.Rather,ithascol ectedgenerous compensationwhilestockholdershavewatchedthevalueoftheir ConcernedVermilionStockholdersIssueLettertoAl investmentserode. Stockholders readmore February1,2013-DrasticChangeRequiredImminentlyAtVermi l ion,Inc. VotetheWHITEProxyCardTodaytoSupportOurExperiencedNomineeto RebuildShareholderValue csavevrml.com TheGroup|TheProblem|ThePlan|InteractiveTimeline|News contact|disclaimer THEPARTICIPANTSINTHEGROUP’SSOLICITATIONOFPROXIES SECURITYHOLDERSAREADVISEDTOREADTHEPROXYSTATEMENT CONSISTOFONLYMR.BESSENYEI,MR.NOVAKANDMR.GOGGIN ANDOTHERDOCUMENTSRELATINGTOTHESOLICITATIONOFPROXIES (THEMEMBERSOFTHEGROUP)ATTHISTIME.THEGROUPHASFILED BYMEMBERSOFTHEGROUPFROMTHESTOCKHOLDERSOF SOLICITINGMATERIALS,WITHTHEUNITEDSTATESSECURITIESAND VERMILLION,INC.FORUSEATITS2012ANNUALMEETINGBECAUSE EXCHANGECOMMISSION(THE“SEC”)ONSCHEDULE14APURSUANT THEYCONTAINIMPORTANTINFORMATION,INCLUDINGINFORMATION TORULES14a-12AND14a-6OFTHERULESANDREGULATIONS RELATINGTOTHEPARTICIPANTSINSUCHPROXYSOLICITATION.THE PROMULGATEDUNDERTHESECURITIESEXCHANGEACTOF1934,AS PROXYSTATEMENTHASBEENORWILLBEFIRSTSENTORGIVENTO AMENDED.STOCKHOLDERSOFVERMILLIONCANOBTAINCOPIESOF VERMILLION,INC.STOCKHOLDERSONORABOUTFEBRUARY6,2013 THISFILING,ASWELLASPRIORFILINGSBYTHEGROUPPURSUANT ANDALSOISAVAILABLEATNOCHARGEATTHESECURITIESAND TORULE14a-12ANDRULE14a-6,ASWELLASTHEGROUP’S EXCHANGECOMMISSION’SWEBSITEATHTTP: / WWW.SEC.GOV. DEFINITIVEPROXYSTATEMENTFILEDWITHTHESECONJANUARY29, 2013(THE“PROXYSTATEMENT”),WHICHTOGETHERCONTAINTHE REQUIREDINFORMATIONUNDERSUCHRULEREGARDINGTHE savevrml.com 1/2 p
3/11/13 SaveVermi l ion-ThewebpageofconcernedVermi l ionstockholders IDENTITYANDBACKGROUNDOFTHEMEMBERSOFTHEGROUP,AND ADESCRIPTIONOFTHEIRDIRECTORINDIRECTINTERESTS,BY SECURITYHOLDINGSANDOTHERWISE,ATNOCHARGEATTHE SECURITIESANDEXCHANGECOMMISSION’SWEBSITEAT HTTP: / WWW.SEC.GOV. savevrml.com 2/2
3/11/13 SaveVermi l ion-News TheGroup TheProblem ThePlan Timeline Contact TheCompensationCounter News $13,176,632 Howdidwecalculate? March11,2013 InstitutionalShareholderServices(ISS)RecommendsVermilionStockholdersVotetheWHITEProxy CardtoElectDissidentNomineeatUpcomingAnnualMeeting "Shareholderswouldbebet erservedininjectingasenseofaccountabilitybyvotingFORdissidentnomineeGoggin ontheWHITEdissidentcard." February26,2013 ConcernedVermilionStockholdersIssueNewLettertoAlStockholders Wenoticedthatsomestockholderssimplyvotedonthecompany’sproxycardagainsttheBoardnominee, apparentlythinkingthatdoingsoautomatical ycountsasavoteforMr.Goggin.Thisisnotthecase. February21,2013 NewInvestorPresentation Vermi l ionhasacol ectionofvaluableassetsbutboardandmanagementhavefailedtoachieveful potentialofthe company.Qualityofmanagementandboardofdirectorsisespecial ycrucialnow. February1,2013 ConcernedVermilionStockholdersIssueLettertoAlStockholders DrasticChangeRequiredImminentlyAtVermi l ion,Inc.VotetheWHITEProxyCardTodaytoSupportOur ExperiencedNomineetoRebuildShareholderValue January10,2013 Vermilion'sBoardWrongfulyContinuestoDelayAnnualStockholderMeetingToCircumvent StockholderVote,TriggeringNASDAQDelistingNotice TheGroupnominatedRobertS.GogginasDirectorNomineeforthe2012AnnualMeetingalmostayearago,on February15,2012.ThelastAnnualStockholderMeetingwasheldonJune6,2011,morethan18monthsago.Yet, asoftoday,theCompanyhasnotannouncedthedateforits2012AnnualStockholderMeeting. November16,2012 DelawareCourtActionAlowsVermilion'sStockholderMeetingWithoutFurtherDelay MembersoftheGrouptriedtoreversetheeliminationoftheBoardseatbyfilingsuitintheChanceryCourtin Delaware.However,aftermultipledelays,theCourtdismissedthecaseonaproceduraltechnicality,andthusdidnot reachthemeritsregardingthelegalityofeliminatingtheBoardseat. November13,2012 ConcernedVermilionStockholdersSendLettertotheBoardofVermilion,Inc Accordingtopublicfilings,CEOGailPagewas'terminatedwithoutcause'bytheCompanyonMay15,2012.Had sheresignedinsteadofbeingterminated,shewouldnothavebeenentitledtoaseverancepackage.Nowwehave learntfromrecentcompanyfilingsthatherseverancepackageisintherangeof$400,000-al incash-whichwi l be paidinadditiontothe$8.4mi l ioncompensationreceivedin2010and2011andher$350,000basesalaryfor2012. TheJamesS.BurnsledBoardapprovedal theactionsleadingtothisseverancepackage. October16,2012 ConcernedVermilionStockholdersCommentonRepaymentofDebt "Quest'sfinancialcontributionstoVermi l iontodatehaveuniformlybeenspentinexactlythesamefashionasal othershareholders'money:excessiveexecutivecompensationandothercorporatewaste.It'sanythingbut surprisingthatQuestdecidedtosavesomeofitsinvestmentfromthefailedleadershipoftheCompany."saidRobert S.Goggin. February29,2012 ConcernedVermilionStockholdersAnnounceNominationofNewMemberstotheBoardof DirectorsofVermilion,Inc. Itistimeforchangeandafreshstart.Aswehaveal painful ywitnessed,thecompanyisonadownwardspiralto certainself-destructioninthefrontofoureyes,plaguedbygrossmismanagement. csavevrml.com TheGroup|TheProblem|ThePlan|InteractiveTimeline|News contact|disclaimer savevrml.com/news 1/2 p
3/11/13 SaveVermi l ion-News THEPARTICIPANTSINTHEGROUP’SSOLICITATIONOFPROXIES SECURITYHOLDERSAREADVISEDTOREADTHEPROXYSTATEMENT CONSISTOFONLYMR.BESSENYEI,MR.NOVAKANDMR.GOGGIN ANDOTHERDOCUMENTSRELATINGTOTHESOLICITATIONOFPROXIES (THEMEMBERSOFTHEGROUP)ATTHISTIME.THEGROUPHASFILED BYMEMBERSOFTHEGROUPFROMTHESTOCKHOLDERSOF SOLICITINGMATERIALS,WITHTHEUNITEDSTATESSECURITIESAND VERMILLION,INC.FORUSEATITS2012ANNUALMEETINGBECAUSE EXCHANGECOMMISSION(THE“SEC”)ONSCHEDULE14APURSUANT THEYCONTAINIMPORTANTINFORMATION,INCLUDINGINFORMATION TORULES14a-12AND14a-6OFTHERULESANDREGULATIONS RELATINGTOTHEPARTICIPANTSINSUCHPROXYSOLICITATION.THE PROMULGATEDUNDERTHESECURITIESEXCHANGEACTOF1934,AS PROXYSTATEMENTHASBEENORWILLBEFIRSTSENTORGIVENTO AMENDED.STOCKHOLDERSOFVERMILLIONCANOBTAINCOPIESOF VERMILLION,INC.STOCKHOLDERSONORABOUTFEBRUARY6,2013 THISFILING,ASWELLASPRIORFILINGSBYTHEGROUPPURSUANT ANDALSOISAVAILABLEATNOCHARGEATTHESECURITIESAND TORULE14a-12ANDRULE14a-6,ASWELLASTHEGROUP’S EXCHANGECOMMISSION’SWEBSITEATHTTP: / WWW.SEC.GOV. DEFINITIVEPROXYSTATEMENTFILEDWITHTHESECONJANUARY29, 2013(THE“PROXYSTATEMENT”),WHICHTOGETHERCONTAINTHE REQUIREDINFORMATIONUNDERSUCHRULEREGARDINGTHE IDENTITYANDBACKGROUNDOFTHEMEMBERSOFTHEGROUP,AND ADESCRIPTIONOFTHEIRDIRECTORINDIRECTINTERESTS,BY SECURITYHOLDINGSANDOTHERWISE,ATNOCHARGEATTHE SECURITIESANDEXCHANGECOMMISSION’SWEBSITEAT HTTP: / WWW.SEC.GOV. savevrml.com/news 2/2 p
