MRV Facing Board Takeover by Dissident Shareholders

A group of investors in networking equipment and optical component manufacturer MRV Communications Inc. is attempting to replace the company’s entire board and management team. Shareholders in the Chatsworth-based company were notified of the takeover attempt in a letter from CEO Noam Lotan and board Chairman Shlomo Margalit sent on Sept. 16. The letter identified the “dissident” shareholders as Spencer Capital Opportunity Fund, LP, Boston Avenue Capital, LLC, and thirteen other entities and individuals affiliated with Spencer or Boston Avenue. The group owns about 1.2 percent of outstanding shares. The company has reached out to the investor group to understand its objectives and share future plans, Lotan and Margalit wrote in their letter. “To date, they have refused to engage in a dialogue with us about their ideas or objectives and have refused our invitation to consider some of their candidates in our director search,” the letter said. The company’s annual meeting, at which a new board is elected, takes place in November. Mark R. Madler