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By now you may have received a letter from Ramius Capital Group, L.L.C., aNew York City-based hedge fund. Ramius is a dissident shareholder that hasowned Datascope shares for just ten weeks. Despite its short-term investmentin the Company, Ramius has initiated a disruptive proxy contest in an effortto install two of its own hand-picked candidates on your Board. We urge youto reject Ramius' proxy contest to replace two Datascope directors, James J.Loughlin and William L. Asmundson, by signing, dating and returningDatascope's enclosed BLUE proxy card today.
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DATASCOPE'S BOARD ACTS SOLELY IN THE INTEREST OF SHAREHOLDERS
Datascope's Board has always worked for the benefit of all Datascopeshareholders. Your Board is comprised of a majority of independent directorswho have the appropriate balance of tenure and skills and bring the depth andbreadth of expertise required to guide a leading diversified medical devicecompany like Datascope. Your Board has consistently invested in the Company'sgrowth and shared profits with shareholders in the form of regular and specialdividends and share repurchases. We are committed to continuing to do so inthe future.
Our commitment is best exemplified by both the recent introduction ofNetGuard(TM), our revolutionary new Clinical Alert System with a U.S. marketpotential in excess of $1 billion, and the payment on October 15, 2007 of$1.10 per share in aggregate cash quarterly and special dividends.
No one has more at stake in Datascope than the Company's founder and CEO,Lawrence Saper, who owns almost 16% of the Company's outstanding common shares,and has been the Company's single largest shareholder since the Company's IPOin 1972. Ramius, on the other hand, did not own a single share in Datascopeuntil less than ten weeks ago. In an effort to seek your support for its twohand-picked and paid nominees, Ramius has resorted to a proxy fight campaignof innuendo and baseless allegations in place of any business plan or visionfor the Company.
Your Board has consistently focused on building shareholder equity andshareholder value. Under the guidance and leadership of your Board andmanagement team, Datascope has delivered 35 years of uninterrupted annualprofits and net earnings growth in 27 out of those 35 years.
Datascope's Board has authorized approximately $110 million in sharerepurchases over the last eight years, of which $76 million has beenrepurchased to date. In addition, since October 2004, Datascope has paidapproximately $91 million, or $6.03 per share, in cash quarterly and specialdividends, including a $1.00 per share special dividend and a $0.10 per shareregular dividend, both of which were paid on October 15, 2007.
Datascope's record of creating shareholder value is a direct result of theongoing successful execution of the strategic plan that has been adopted andstrongly supported by your Board of Directors. Key elements of this planinclude:
In fiscal 2007 alone, Datascope introduced many new products that addressimportant market opportunities. These products include, among others:CS300(TM) state-of-the-art automatic balloon pump, Sensation(TM) 7 Fr.fiber-optic balloon catheter, Safeguard(TM) non-invasive vascular closuredevice, Spectrum OR monitor, Gas Module SE(TM) with Spirometry, SpO2Ambulatory Telepak monitor, new software products to increase thefunctionality of Datascope's Panorama(R) central monitoring system
