Steel Partners Provides Update Regarding Litigation Against Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO Eileen Drake, Director Thomas Corcoran, Director Kevin Chilton and Director Lance Lord

Rhea-AI Summary

Steel Partners Holdings L.P. announced that the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled in its favor regarding claims against CEO Eileen Drake and several directors of Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJRD). The court rejected an attempt to dismiss Steel's claims and agreed that Drake's team violated a temporary restraining order. Additionally, the court ruled against conducting the election without board consent. Steel Partners, owning approximately 5.2% of AJRD, aims to advocate for its seven nominated board candidates in the upcoming 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

Positive

• Delaware Court ruled in favor of Steel Partners, rejecting claims dismissal.
• Court found that Ms. Drake's team violated a temporary restraining order.

Negative

• Concerns raised over corporate governance by Ms. Drake and her allies.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Steel Partners Holdings L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Steel Partners” or “we”), which owns approximately 5.2% of the outstanding shares of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AJRD) (“Aerojet Rocketdyne” or the “Company”) and has nominated seven highly qualified candidates for election to the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) at the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, today issued the following statement regarding the outcome of this week's hearing in the Delaware Court of Chancery (the “Court”):

Steel Partners is pleased with the Court's multiple rulings in our favor this week. The Court rejected the effort by Chief Executive Officer Eileen Drake and Directors Thomas Corcoran, Kevin Chilton and Lance Lord to have our claims against them dismissed, agreed with us that Ms. Drake and her allies had failed to comply with the Court’s temporary restraining order and granted our application to supplement our complaint to add additional claims of Ms. Drake’s abuse of her corporate office and misuse of corporate resources. The Court also rejected the lopsided proposal by Ms. Drake and her boardroom allies to conduct Aerojet Rocketdyne’s election contest without the consent of a majority of the Board. We look forward to making our case to shareholders that the Steel Partners nominees are the best stewards of the business. In our view, Ms. Drake and Messrs. Corcoran, Chilton and Lord have repeatedly demonstrated that they lack credibility, ignore basic principles of corporate governance and are not sufficiently aligned with shareholders.

The trial in the Court is scheduled for late May.

About Steel Partners Holdings L.P.

Steel Partners Holdings L.P. is a diversified global holding company that owns and operates businesses and has significant interests in leading companies in various industries, including diversified industrial products, energy, defense, supply chain management and logistics, banking and youth sports.

Certain Information Concerning the Participants

SPH Group Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“SPHG Holdings”), together with the other participants named herein (collectively, the “Steel Partners Group”), intends to file a preliminary proxy statement and accompanying WHITE proxy card with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to be used to solicit votes for the election of its slate of highly qualified director nominees at the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”). THE STEEL PARTNERS GROUP STRONGLY ADVISES ALL STOCKHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER PROXY MATERIALS AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. SUCH PROXY MATERIALS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE ON THE SEC'S WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SEC.GOV. IN ADDITION, THE PARTICIPANTS IN THIS PROXY SOLICITATION WILL PROVIDE COPIES OF THE PROXY STATEMENT WITHOUT CHARGE, WHEN AVAILABLE, UPON REQUEST.

The participants in the proxy solicitation are anticipated to be SPHG Holdings, Steel Partners Holdings L.P., a Delaware limited partnership (“Steel Holdings”), SPH Group LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“SPHG”), Steel Partners Holdings GP Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Steel Holdings GP”), WebFinancial Holding Corporation, a Delaware corporation (“WebFinancial”), Steel Excel, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Steel Excel”), Steel Partners, Ltd., a Delaware corporation (“SPL”), Warren G. Lichtenstein, James R. Henderson, Joanne M. Maguire, Audrey A. McNiff, Aimee J. Nelson, Martin Turchin and Heidi R. Wood. As of the date hereof, SPHG Holdings directly owned 1,497 shares of Common Stock, $0.10 par value, of the Company (the “Shares”), WebFinancial directly owned 3,482,572 Shares and Steel Excel directly owned 465,427 Shares. Steel Holdings owns 99% of the membership interests of SPHG. SPHG is the sole member of SPHG Holdings. Steel Holdings GP is the general partner of Steel Holdings, the managing member of SPHG and the manager of SPHG Holdings. Accordingly, each of Steel Holdings and Steel Holdings GP may be deemed to beneficially own the Shares directly owned by SPHG Holdings. SPHG owns 100% of the outstanding shares of common stock of WebFinancial. Accordingly, Steel Holdings, SPHG and Steel Holdings GP may be deemed to beneficially own the Shares directly owned by WebFinancial. SPHG Holdings owns 100% of the outstanding shares of common stock of Steel Excel. Accordingly, each of Steel Holdings, SPHG, SPHG Holdings and Steel Holdings GP may be deemed to beneficially own the Shares directly owned by Steel Excel. As of the date hereof, SPL directly owned 60,546 Shares. Mr. Lichtenstein is the Chief Executive Officer of SPL. Accordingly, Mr. Lichtenstein may be deemed to beneficially own the Shares directly owned by SPL. As of the date hereof, Warren G. Lichtenstein directly owned 207,953 Shares. An additional 520,892 Shares are held by a “rabbi trust,” the receipt of which has been deferred by Mr. Lichtenstein pursuant to the Company’s Deferred Compensation Plan for Nonemployee Directors. Such 520,892 Shares are not deemed to be beneficially owned by Mr. Lichtenstein. As of the date hereof, James R. Henderson directly owned 48,107 Shares. An additional 83,986 Shares are held by a “rabbi trust,” the receipt of which has been deferred by Mr. Henderson pursuant to the Company’s Deferred Compensation Plan for Nonemployee Directors. Such 83,986 Shares are not deemed to be beneficially owned by Mr. Henderson. As of the date hereof, Audrey A. McNiff directly owned 5,112 Shares. An additional 3,988 Shares are held by a “rabbi trust,” the receipt of which has been deferred by Ms. McNiff pursuant to the Company’s Deferred Compensation Plan for Nonemployee Directors. Such 3,988 Shares are not deemed to be beneficially owned by Ms. McNiff. As of the date hereof, Martin Turchin directly owned 108,066 Shares. Additionally, Mr. Turchin beneficially owned indirectly an aggregate of 12,500 Shares held in several trusts of which he is a trustee. An additional 5,886 Shares are held by a “rabbi trust,” the receipt of which has been deferred by Mr. Turchin pursuant to the Company’s Deferred Compensation Plan for Nonemployee Directors. Such 5,886 Shares are not deemed to be beneficially owned by Mr. Turchin. As of the date hereof, Joanne M. Maguire, Aimee J. Nelson and Heidi R. Wood did not beneficially own any securities of the Company.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that reflect Steel Partners Holdings L.P.’s (“SPLP”) current expectations and projections about its future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. SPLP identifies these forward-looking statements by using words such as "may," "should," "expect," "hope," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "plan," "estimate," "will" and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to SPLP and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause its actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. These factors include, without limitation, the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to SPLP’s business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows; material weaknesses in SPLP’s internal control over financial reporting; decline in crude oil price; fluctuations in commodity prices; substantial cash funding requirements that may be required in the future as a result of certain of SPLP’s subsidiaries’ sponsorship of defined benefit pension plans; significant costs, including remediation costs, as a result of complying with environmental laws or failing to comply with other extensive regulations, including banking regulations; the impact of climate change legislation or regulations restricting emissions of greenhouse gases on costs and demand for SPLP’s services; impacts to SPLP’s liquidity or financial condition as a result of legislative and regulatory actions; SPLP’s ability to maintain sufficient cash flows from operations or through financings to meet its obligations under its senior credit facility; risks associated with SPLP’s business strategy of acquisitions; losses sustained in SPLP’s investment portfolio; the impact of interest rates on SPLP’s investments, such as increased interest rates or the use of a SOFR based interest rate in SPLP’s credit facilities; reliance on the intellectual property owned by others and SPLP’s ability to protect its own intellectual property and licenses; risks associated with conducting operations outside of the United States, including changes in trade policies and the costs or limitations of acquiring materials and products used in SPLP’s operations; risks of litigation; impacts to SPLP’s WebBank business as a result of the highly regulated environment in which it operates, as well as the risk of litigation regarding the processing of PPP loans and the risk that the SBA may not fund some or all PPP loan guaranties; potentially disruptive impacts from economic downturns in various sectors; loss of customers by SPLP’s subsidiaries as a result of not maintaining long-term contracts with customers; risks related to SPLP’s key members of management and the senior leadership team; SPLP’s agreement to indemnify its manager pursuant to its management agreement, which may incentivize the manager to take unnecessary risks; risks related to SPLP’s common and preferred units, including potential price reductions for current unitholders if additional common or preferred units are issued, as well as the lack of an active market for SPLP’s units as a result of transfer restrictions contained in SPLP’s partnership agreement; the ability of SPLP’s subsidiaries to fully use their tax benefits; impacts as a result of changes in tax rates, laws or regulations, including U.S. government tax reform; labor disruptions as a result of vaccine mandated by the United States federal government. These statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, and no assurance can be given that the actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Investors should read carefully the factors described in the "Risk Factors" section of SPLP's filings with the SEC, including SPLP's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, for information regarding risk factors that could affect SPLP's results. Any forward-looking statement made in this press release speaks only as of the date hereof. Except as otherwise required by law, SPLP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances, or any other reason.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220323005978/en/

Longacre Square Partners

Greg Marose, 201-936-4126

gmarose@longacresquare.com

Source: Steel Partners Holdings L.P.

FAQ

What did the Delaware Court rule regarding Steel Partners and Aerojet Rocketdyne?

The Delaware Court ruled in favor of Steel Partners, rejecting attempts by Aerojet Rocketdyne's CEO Eileen Drake and directors to dismiss claims against them.

What is Steel Partners' stake in Aerojet Rocketdyne?

Steel Partners holds approximately 5.2% of the outstanding shares of Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJRD).

What action is Steel Partners taking regarding Aerojet Rocketdyne's Board of Directors?

Steel Partners has nominated seven candidates for election to Aerojet Rocketdyne's Board of Directors.

What are the implications of the court ruling for Aerojet Rocketdyne?

The ruling raises concerns about corporate governance and leadership credibility within Aerojet Rocketdyne.

When is the trial related to this case scheduled?

The trial in the Delaware Court is scheduled for late May.