Dolphin Limited Partnership I, L.P., a private investment partnership that together with an affiliate hold about 4% of Class A common stock of Johnson Outdoors Inc., has not gone quietly into that good night in their efforts to pressure the JOUT board and senior management to be more open with documents that would help Dolphin determine “whether the JOUT board has and is effectively focused on generating shareholder value.”

When last we heard from the Dolphin group in April, they had sent a letter to the company stating that they were prepared to offer Johnson Outdoors a transaction that they believe is “superior to the unsuccessful going private transaction”, a move that failed in March in part due to Dolphin’s efforts. The proposal included an offer to acquire approximately 1.5 million newly issued Class B common shares at $21.10 per share. JOUT officially declined another higher offer in early May.

The Dolphin proxy letter to shareholders announcing their plans to introduce a shareholder proposal at the annual meeting that had been re-scheduled from its initial June 2, 2005 date kept shareholders apprised of their efforts to make life difficult for the JOUT board. It quickly digressed into quite a rant about undervaluation, etc… and a general attack on management and the Board.


>>> Looks like someone ordered Dolphin, but got Shark instead