re: Ann: Unilife - Earnings Release Conferenc... If you go to...

re: Ann: Unilife - Earnings Release Conferenc... If you go to their website, on the front page, bottom left side, is a letter to Forbes.

September 4, 2013
Via E-mail and Federal Express (Overnight Delivery)
Forbes Media
60 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10011
To the Editors:
On behalf of Unilife Corporation, I am responding to an article published online by Forbes on September 4, 2013.
The article contains numerous misrepresentations of fact, misleading statements and serious inaccuracies regarding Unilife and myself as CEO. We sought to correct these erroneous statements with Forbes in advance of publication, but your editors chose to print the original inaccurate and misleading content regardless. Notwithstanding the malicious personal attack on my character, we will let our performance over the coming months speak for itself rather than give this baseless article any credibility.
However, it is in the interests of Unilife shareholders, employees and your readers that we respond in a timely fashion to some particularly inaccurate and unfounded statements that could easily have been properly presented by Forbes with diligent fact-checking and a balanced editorial perspective.
Compensation Provided to the Unilife CEO and COO
Forbes implies in the article that my realized compensation totals $18 million for three years and that Unilife’s COO Dr. Ramin Mojdeh’s realized compensation totals $8 million. This comment is factually wrong, and was made despite Unilife providing Forbes in advance with clear evidence from easily accessed public documents that contravene these statements. In this article, Forbes has carelessly combined my cash and equity compensation over two consecutive three-year packages. For the record, my base annual salary has been $420,000 since 2004 and is at the 50th percentile among the Company’s published industry peer group.
The overwhelming majority of my compensation is non-cash in the form of restricted stock and stock options with significant performance and market-based milestones that are clearly aligned to build shareholder value. Unlike in the U.S., non-cash compensation for the CEOs of companies trading in Australia, or dual listed as Unilife is, must be approved by shareholders. My current equity awards, which cover three years, were overwhelmingly voted in favor by shareholders. The vast majority of the reported amounts are stock and option awards that have not yet been realized. Indeed, I will not realize the value of these stock and option awards until milestones are achieved that would essentially require the Company to have a market capitalization of $1.7 billion, roughly five times today’s market capitalization. As another example, some of my stock options have a strike price of $6.64 but will not vest until Unilife’s stock price exceeds $17.82. Equity grants provided to Unilife’s COO, Dr. Mojdeh, are subject to similar performance or market-based milestones. Unless the milestones applicable to this non cash-based compensation are achieved, the restricted stock and options are essentially worthless and if they are achieved, our shareholders will derive substantial benefit.
Relationship between the Unilife CEO and a Founding Shareholder
The article alleges an unusual relationship between me and one of Unilife’s founding shareholders with regard to shareholdings in Unilife. In an attempt to support this false accusation, the article refers to comments made by an Australian Supreme Court judge during a 2006 trial concerning the break-up of a two year relationship
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between me and an ex-girlfriend. The comment from the Supreme Court judge quoted in the article has been taken out of context and represents the exact opposite of the judge’s final opinion. The judge in fact stated in his findings that he could find no evidence to support the allegation. Furthermore, the Board of Unilife and Australian authorities each independently reviewed this matter when it was originally publicized in Australia in 2004, with neither finding any evidence to support the allegation.
The abovementioned allegations that we have corrected and clarified represent only a few examples of the numerous misrepresentations of fact, misleading statements and serious inaccuracies contained in the article. We request Forbes make the necessary corrections to rectify what is a grossly misleading story, and are willing to work collaboratively with editors to ensure accurate reporting.
Yours sincerely
Alan Shortall
CEO