Temenos Should Oust CEO at Once, Activist Petrus Advisers Says
(Bloomberg) — Activist investor Petrus Advisers called on Temenos AG to replace its interim chief executive officer immediately and address allegations made by short seller Hindenburg Research by Monday.
“We very much agree with Hindenburg that Andreas Andreades has to finally leave Temenos,” Klaus Umek and Till Hufnagel of Petrus said in a letter Friday to Temenos Chairman Thibault de Tersant.
London-based Petrus owns slightly more than 2% of shares in Swiss banking technology provider Temenos and has been calling for Andreades’s ouster since 2022.
Read more: Hindenburg Report Throws Swiss Fintech Temenos Into Turmoil
The Swiss company’s shares have plunged more than 30% since Hindenburg’s report Thursday alleged “major accounting irregularities.” Temenos also “manipulated earnings,” the short seller said, adding that the practices were an “open secret” at the company.
Temenos said the report “contains factual inaccuracies and analytical errors, together with false and misleading allegations.” A representative for Geneva-based Temenos didn’t have an immediate comment on the letter from Petrus, when contacted by Bloomberg News.
Short-Term Focus
Petrus said most of Hindenburg’s allegations were “based on hear-say talk from former disgruntled Temenos executives.” Still, the investment firm said Andreades had created a culture that “favored short-term gains over long-term value creation,” with poorly executed acquisitions that added to the problems.
Temenos should address Hindenburg’s allegations about customer contracts, research spending and other issues by Monday, Petrus said.
Temenos, which has been of interest to buyout firms, is in the midst of a long search for a CEO. Andreades became the interim boss after Max Chuard stepped down in January 2023 following activist pressure.
Umek, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker, founded Petrus. The firm, with offices in London and Bratislava, Slovakia, invests in European companies and seeks “active engagement both publicly and behind the scenes,” according to its website.
–With assistance from Allegra Catelli and Tara Patel.
(Updates with background on Petrus and Temenos from paragraph eight.)
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