Immersion Activist Steps Up Pressure On Haptic Technology Company

Viex Capital Advisors, an activist investor in Immersion Corp. IMMR, made a 13D filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicating that its stake in the company is an active one. 

What Happened

Viex filed a 13G form May 31, but this was changed to a 13D Tuesday. 

The schedule 13G is an alternative SEC filing for the 13D that must be filed by anyone who acquires ownership in a public company of more than 5 percent of the outstanding stock.

The 13G filing indicates a "passive" investment by a firm and the 13D filing indicates a more "active" stake by the firm.

Viex said in the filing that it believes Immersion shares are "materially undervalued," adding that recent management changes at the company and licensing agreements with Sony Corp SNE and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd SSNLF are "positive developments."

" ... In order for the full value of the shares to be realized, significant and immediate improvements to the issuer’s corporate governance, cost structure and capital allocation are required," Viex said. "In particular, the reporting persons believe that direct stockholder representation on the issuer’s board of directors is essential to maximizing stockholder value."

Why It's Important

Today’s filing showed a raised stake compared to the 13G filing from mid-March, when the firm had a 6.1-percent stake (1.878 million shares) and the same stake as what was disclosed in the May 29 filing.

As far back as 2017, Viex Capital Advisors have been influencing operations and management at Immersion and back then the group reached an agreement.

Immersion shares were trading up by 1.18 percent to $7.69 at the time of publication Tuesday. 

Related Links:

Immersion Appoints Jared Smith as Vice President of Worldwide Sales

Immersion Reaches 3,500 Issued and Pending Haptics Patents

Posted In: NewsSECViex Capital Advisors
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!

Loading...