By letter dated November 20, 2015, the Company issued a statement in response to what it considers to be a misleading, unprincipled report issued on November 19, 2015 by Spruce Point Capital Management (the “Fund”) and to unusually high trading volume in its stock shortly after publication of the Spruce Point report.
The Fund is a self-identified short-seller in Cresud's stock. Its own report reveals that the Fund and its affiliates have a "short position" in Cresud's stock "and therefore stand to realize significant gains" in the event that the price of Cresud's stocks declines. The Company believes that the short-seller Fund’s self-interest is clearly evident, and that its report is riddled with incorrect inferences and inappropriate innuendo.
Eduardo Elsztain, Chairman of Cresud, said, "We stand by the accuracy and integrity of our financial statements, which were audited by an internationally-recognized external accountant firm, and our regulatory filings. We disagree with the short-seller fund’s uninformed implication that we might not have complied with our obligations under our debt instruments. This, quite simply, is not the case. Cresud is proud of its decades-long track record of compliance, and transparency in the international capital markets and categorically rejects any self-serving suggestion to the contrary.”
Cresud (NASDAQ:CRESY , MERVAL: CRES) is a 79 year leading Latin-American agricultural company engaged in the production of basic agricultural commodities with a growing presence in Brazil through its investment in BrasilAgro—Companhia Brasileira de Propriedades Agrícolas (NYSE:LND), and in other Latin American countries. Cresud is currently involved in a range of activities including crop production, beef cattle raising and milk production. The Company’s business model focuses on the acquisition, development and exploitation of properties having attractive prospects for agricultural production and/or value appreciation and the selective disposition of such properties where appreciation has been realized. Cresud’s shares are listed on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange and its ADSs are listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.
Additionally, Cresud owns as of September 30, 2015 a 64.30% stake in IRSA Inversiones y Representaciones S.A., Argentina's largest, most well-diversified real estate company.
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