Le Lézard
Subject: Letter

Concerned Shareholders of Cano Health Issue Open Letter Regarding the Urgent Need for Leadership and Strategy Changes at the Company


Elliot Cooperstone, Lewis Gold and Barry Sternlicht (collectively with certain of their affiliates, the "Group" or "we"), who recently resigned as members of the Board of Directors (the "Board") of Cano Health, Inc. ("Cano" or the "Company") (NYSE: CANO), today issued the below letter to fellow shareholders.

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Fellow Shareholders,

We are writing to convey our serious concerns regarding the management and trajectory of Cano. We collectively own Class A and Class B common shares with aggregate voting power of approximately 36% of all the shares outstanding, making our group the Company's single largest shareholder. The three of us recently made the difficult decision to resign from Cano's Board after it became apparent that our persistent calls for enhanced corporate governance, improved capital allocation and financial controls and a more sustainable long-term strategy were being ignored. Our efforts were brushed aside despite the rapid deterioration of Cano's balance sheet and market capitalization over the past 20 months. In our view, Dr. Marlow Hernandez, Cano's Chief Executive Officer, and his close associates on the Board left us with no choice other than to resign as directors and start advocating for shareholders' best long-term interests from outside the boardroom. Unfortunately, instead of responding to our concerns, Cano seems intent on muzzling us with ill-informed and meritless threats of litigation.

It is important to underscore that we are not "activist investors", and we have no history of running public proxy contests. We have spent our careers establishing credibility across the financial markets and various corporate sectors, including healthcare services, based on our focus on the long-term. Each of us has served on public and private company boards of directors. Each of us has served as stewards of large amounts of capital and placed the highest priority on that responsibility. In addition, two of us have successfully grown and led healthcare services businesses. Given our backgrounds, as well as our sizable investment, we hope it is clear that we are squarely aligned with all Cano shareholders. In contrast, half of the remaining directors collectively own a paltry amount of Company stock ? less than 1% ? substantially all of which was awarded to them and not purchased.

In the subsequent sections of this letter, we provide an overview of our concerns and ideas, including:

  1. The urgent need for C-suite and boardroom changes at Cano.
  2. The path to establishing the right corporate governance and the right, value-enhancing strategy for Cano.
  3. How you, as fellow shareholders, can provide feedback to a seemingly insular Board.

We are not soliciting any support in connection with a future meeting of shareholders at this time. We simply want to ensure you understand key facts about Cano, including the reasons behind our recent resignations and the opportunities we see for a value-enhancing turnaround. Should you want to contact the Board or engage in a standard shareholder-to-shareholder conversation with us, please refer to the details included at the end of this letter.

The Urgent Need for Change

In our view, Cano has lost all credibility with its shareholders and the market due primarily to a majority of the Board being unwilling to effectively and objectively supervise Dr. Hernandez. The Board's committee chairs and remaining members all appear to be either beholden to Dr. Hernandez or inappropriately deferential to him. The consequences associated with this brand of insular governance have been significant:

Dr. Hernandez's wife is now a minority shareholder of Onsite Dental which purchased Dental Excellence Partners in April 2022 and provides dental services to Cano. Dr. Hernandez's wife remains a member of its Board of Directors and Dr. Hernandez's brother and mother are employed as dentists at Onsite Dental.

How can Cano shareholders be sure that these Hernandez family arrangements are negotiated at arm's-length, at market rates and have been fully disclosed to shareholders?

The SEC filings made late last week by Cano and Dr. Hernandez validate the concerns voiced in this letter and made previously by members of our Group. In fact, we question whether the Company would have made these disclosures had they not been subject to outside pressure. Troubling conflicts of interest, related-party transactions and insider loans have been allowed to persist at Cano for too long, and to the extent these are not immediately addressed and explained by Cano to our satisfaction, then we will submit a books and records request under Section 220 of Delaware law so that we can fully investigate and explore all of these arrangements and dealings for ourselves. Based on this information we have every intention of holding directors personally responsible for what appears to be clear breaches of fiduciary duties, including the duty of loyalty.

As a first step towards addressing shareholders' concerns, we urge Cano to immediately address the following questions through additional public disclosures:

While not an exhaustive list of our questions and concerns, these issues and open questions are alarming and represent serious threats to shareholder value. We firmly believe there are changes that can be made to reverse Cano's current trajectory and that Cano can once again be a significant source of value creation for its shareholders, partners, employees and broader stakeholder constituencies.

The Right Path Forward for Cano

Turning around Cano begins with putting the right people in the right positions. First and foremost, it is crystal clear to us that Cano needs to replace Dr. Hernandez with a credible, high-integrity leader who possesses experience operating healthcare services companies. The Company is fortunate to have individuals within the organization who fit this profile. We are ready and willing to apply our strong recruiting and succession planning experience to help the Board select an interim Chief Executive Officer in the immediate term as well as a permanent replacement once the organization is stabilized.

A second priority of ours is helping to reconstitute the Board in a manner that adds necessary experience and independence while reducing interlocks and potential conflicts of interest. The Board needs a significant overhaul of its membership and leadership. Too many of the current directors lack prior experience in the healthcare services industry and do not possess skillsets critical to their roles. We are prepared to engage with the Board on a logical refresh and submit candidates with experience in corporate governance, capital allocation, M&A, finance and audit matters, as well as the healthcare sector. We are open to a Board reconstitution that contemplates continuity as part of a much-needed overhaul.

We believe the Company needs to immediately begin the process of selling all non-core businesses in an orderly manner. We are confident that an objective and unbiased Board would quickly see the merit in re-focusing Cano's strategy on the high-potential Florida market, which we have noted can likely drive strong growth with attractive margins. This should be accompanied by an assessment of all strategic alternatives available, including a subsequent complete sale of the Company under the supervision of a more experienced and qualified Board. Our group can support the Company's efforts to explore all potential strategic opportunities based on our significant transaction experience and relationships.

Lastly, we also believe that new leadership will see the wisdom in revising the Company's corporate governance policies and bylaws to be more shareholder friendly. Natural steps include de-classifying the Board, allowing shareholders to call special meetings and act by written consent and increasing transparency and disclosure around director interlocks and possible related-party transactions. It is clear to us that Cano needs to evolve from being a founder-dominated business to a mature, well-governed company.

Making Your Views Known

Since forming our group, the feedback we have received from other shareholders is highly encouraging and corroborates the efforts we have undertaken to resurrect Cano. We encourage all Cano shareholders and other stakeholders to make their views known, as this is the only way for the Board to understand that there is a clear and widespread desire for change. Dr. Hernandez and the other directors would be acting irresponsibly if they dismissed unambiguous feedback from a critical mass of shareholders and instead prioritized their own self-preservation.

You can privately contact the Company and request that your feedback be shared with the full Board by emailing [email protected].

To the extent you want to share your views with us or have a normal shareholder-to-shareholder conversation with our group, we can be reached at [email protected]. We are eager to hear if other shareholders share our views on the best path forward for Cano, as outlined in this letter. We understand that your email does not indicate any interest in being part of our group. We will keep all conversations confidential, unless otherwise instructed.

Thank you, and we look forward to remaining aligned with you and advancing our collective goal of turning around Cano.

Sincerely,

Elliot Cooperstone

Lewis Gold

Barry Sternlicht

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1 As of market close on March 30, 2023.



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