LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill.—Motient Corp. announced a solid win against Highland Capital Management L.P. and its president, James Dondero, with news that Motient stockholders voted to elect all of the company’s six nominees to the board of directors at its annual stockholder’s meeting, held today.
“We would like to thank all of our fellow stockholders for supporting our highly qualified, independent slate of director nominees,” said Christopher Downie, Motient’s chief operating officer. “Today’s vote is a clear demonstration of investor support for the strategic direction that management and the board have put forth for the company. We believe that our stockholders have spoken and that they expect Mr. Dondero will put an end to his destructive, meritless and unjustified campaign against the company and its management.”
Highland, a Dallas-based hedge fund, owns 14 percent of Motient. Dondero, who has accused Motient of gross mismanagement and various improprieties, has been engaged in a proxy fight to get a new, larger slate of directors elected to the company’s board. However, today’s vote for Motient’s nominees stands as a solid win for Motient against Highland.
In May, Motient announced a series of transactions whereby SkyTerra Communications Inc. would own 70 percent of Mobile Satellite Ventures L.P., an MSS licensee with Federal Communications Commission approval to combine L-band (1.5 GHz) satellite operations with land-based cellular networks.
Under the plan, Motient would increase to 74 percent its stake in TerreStar Networks Inc., an S-band (2 GHz) MSS licensee also planning to construct and operate a hybrid satellite-terrestrial communications system.
The ownership realignment requires federal approval.
Motient owns a 49-percent stake in MSV and a 61-percent stake in TerreStar.
More recently, Motient sold its legacy terrestrial wireless business to Logo Acquisition Corp.
