Jaguar Financial Corp., a merchant bank that has been critical of Research in Motion and owns shares in the BlackBerry maker, on Thursday continued to exert pressure on the company to shake up its management and sell itself.
"At this point we believe investors have lost faith in the ability of the RIM management team to carry out a proper game plan to restore value," Jaguar Chairman and CEO Vic Alboini said on the eve of RIM's financial results. "Unless the independent directors push to replace management or change RIM's strategic focus, Jaguar believes that the road map to value restoration lies in a sale of RIM whether as a whole or in separate parts."
Jaguar apparently wants RIM co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis to step down as co-chairmen of the board of directors, and the Toronto-based bank is calling on two directors in particular to lead the charge to effect change in RIM's corporate governance: Barbara Stymiest, a former Royal Bank of Canada senior executive who has served as a director since March 2007; and Roger Martin, a four-and-a-half-year director who serves as dean and professor of strategy at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Stymiest and Martin both have experience in corporate governance.
"Jaguar believes that considering the experience Ms. Stymiest and Mr. Martin bring to RIM's board of directors, they should step up and take the lead in making dramatic governance change or else resign from the board if they are unable or unwilling to initiate appropriate governance changes," Jaguar stated.
Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM will post its third-quarter financial results later today after the close of regular trading hours.
