Activist Steps Up Pressure on On Deck Capital

By Peter Rudegeair 

An activist investor pushing for a new direction at On Deck Capital Inc. intensified his campaign on Thursday, asking other shareholders to join him in voting against re-electing three board members at the online small-business lender's annual meeting next month.

Marathon Partners Equity Management LLC, which owned 1.75% of On Deck's shares as of the end of 2016 according to FactSet data, also publicly released the text of a letter it sent to the company's board and lead independent director in March urging them to slash expenses and explore a possible sale of the business.

"I haven't sensed an urgency for change," said Mario Cibelli, a managing partner at Marathon, in an interview. "We would encourage other shareholders to consider supporting our vote to send a strong signal to the board and management team."

The three directors up for re-election are Noah Breslow, who also serves as On Deck's chief executive; Jane Thompson, a former financial-services executive at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.; and Ron Verni, a former CEO of Sage Software Inc.

A spokesman for On Deck said in an emailed statement that it welcomes open communications with all stockholders and values constructive input. He added that members of the On Deck board and management team met with Marathon on several occasions.

On Deck's shares, which fell 3.3% Thursday afternoon, are down more than 35% over the past 12 months following the reporting of wider losses and cooler investor demand for its loans.

"The market values OnDeck as a subscale commercial lender with no technology advantage or domain expertise, even as the Company's cost structure remains elevated and resembles that of a prized technology concern," Mr. Cibelli said in the letter to the company's board dated March 15.

Write to Peter Rudegeair at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 13, 2017 16:27 ET (20:27 GMT)

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