Marco M. Elser Issues Open Letter to CEO Tony Yuan of Asia Pacific Wire & Cable Corporation Limited Urging Immediate Capital Allocation Reforms
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rights offeringfinancial
A rights offering is a way for a company to raise additional money by giving existing shareholders the opportunity to buy more shares at a discounted price before they are offered to the public. It’s similar to a special sale where current owners get the first chance to buy extra items at a lower cost, allowing them to increase their investment if they choose. This process matters to investors because it can affect the value of their holdings and their ability to buy new shares at favorable terms.
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Tangible book value is the accounting measure of a company’s net worth after removing intangible items like goodwill, patents and trademarks, leaving only physical and financial assets minus liabilities. For investors it offers a clearer view of the company’s hard-asset backing per share—like estimating the cash you could get by selling the furniture, machinery and cash in a house—helping gauge downside risk and whether a stock may be cheaply valued.
open-market share repurchase programfinancial
An open-market share repurchase program is when a company uses its cash to buy its own stock gradually on public exchanges, like a shop quietly buying back its own gift cards from customers. It reduces the number of shares available, which can raise profit per share and send a signal about management’s view of the business, but it also uses cash that could have been invested elsewhere, so investors watch it for both financial impact and intent.
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A special committee is a group of people chosen by an organization to carefully examine a specific issue or problem, often when a decision could have significant consequences. Think of it as a task force brought together to investigate and recommend actions, ensuring that important matters are handled thoroughly and fairly. For investors, this means decisions are made with careful oversight, which can impact the organization's stability and future direction.
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A special dividend is a one-time payment made by a company to its shareholders, often when the company has extra cash from a big sale or unexpected profit. It’s like a bonus share of the company’s success, giving investors a quick reward outside of regular dividend payments. This can signal the company’s strong financial position or a desire to distribute excess profits.
accelerated buybacksfinancial
A program where a company arranges with a bank to buy a large block of its own shares quickly, with the bank fronting the cash and making the purchases right away while the company settles the final paperwork later. For investors this speeds up the reduction in share count and can lift per‑share earnings and the stock price in the short term, but it also shifts timing and counterparty risk into the deal—think of it as fast‑forwarding a planned share buyback.
ROME--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Shareholder Marco M. Elser today issued the below open letter to Tony Yuan, Chief Executive Officer of Asia Pacific Wire & Cable Corporation Limited (NASDAQ: APWC) regarding the need for immediate capital allocation reforms and the cancellation of the recently announced rights offering.
Asia Pacific Wire & Cable Corporation Limited
2901 Dallas Parkway, Suite 360
Plano, TX 75093
Attn: Tony Yuan
December 1, 2025
Dear Mr. Yuan,
I have been a meaningful shareholder of Asia Pacific Wire & Cable Corporation Limited (NASDAQ: APWC) for nearly thirty years (since APWC’s IPO).
At a time when global electrification and surging AI-driven demand are creating unprecedented tailwinds for electrical-infrastructure companies, I am deeply troubled by the persistent decline in APWC’s share price—both in absolute terms and relative to industry peers.
APWC is uniquely positioned with substantial, in-place manufacturing capacity for power cable and electrical transmission products that are in critically high demand. Yet, despite favorable copper prices and powerful secular trends, APWC shares trade at only ~22% of tangible book value. Over the past five years, many comparable companies in the wire-and-cable sector have seen their stock prices rise by more than 400%, while APWC’s shares have declined 28%. This extreme undervaluation is a clear signal that the market has lost confidence in the Company’s capital allocation decisions.
The recently announced rights offering, which proposes to raise capital at a small fraction of the Company’s $7.50-per-share tangible book value, is the clearest possible validation of the market’s concerns about capital allocation. Rather than repurchasing deeply discounted shares or returning excess capital to owners, management has chosen to issue new shares at prices that would impose severe and immediate dilution on existing minority holders. This decision, coming when the stock already trades at only ~22% of tangible book, sends an unmistakable message that management prioritizes maintaining or expanding control over maximizing shareholder value. Far from solving the problem, the proposed offering only magnifies the very capital-allocation failures that have driven the shares to their current depressed levels.
To halt ongoing value destruction and begin restoring shareholder confidence, I respectfully urge the Board and management to take the following immediate actions:
Cancel the currently proposed rights offering and instead (a) launch an aggressive open-market share repurchase program or (b) a rights offering priced at no less than 60% of tangible book value.
Form an independent special committee to evaluate whether maintaining $137 million of copper and finished-goods inventory continues to be in shareholders’ best interests, given the Company’s historically low margins, and to explore returning excess capital to shareholders via special dividends or accelerated buybacks.
Commit to quarterly earnings conference calls and regular strategic updates in order to dramatically improve transparency with all shareholders.
I am convinced that the prompt adoption of disciplined, shareholder-friendly capital allocation policies will unlock substantial value for every owner of the Company.
Thank you for your urgent consideration. I look forward to constructive dialogue and decisive action.
