News Summary

• “Lack of company risk disclosure would suggest to shareholders: (1) management is clueless about the company’s major investors and/or (2) management does not take their obligations to inform shareholders of risks seriously,” Bloxham wrote in an email to CNN.
• Asked if Humacyte plans to cut ties with Yushvaev, a company spokesperson said: “As a public company, Humacyte has no influence over who continues to buy, hold or sell shares in the company.” Yushvaev was previously a major shareholder in Lyft.
• It’s the only example I know of where a US-listed public company has a Russian oligarch sanctioned by Ukraine as one of its largest shareholders,” said Steven Tian, research director at the Yale School of Management’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute.
• “This is a minority shareholder who was one of over 150 shareholders who invested in Humacyte when it was a privately held company,” the Humacyte spokesperson said.
• By contrast, in its 2005 annual report, Wimm-Bill-Dann alerted shareholders to the criminal history of Yushvaev, who at the time was the largest shareholder in the European dairy products company.
• Ward said the impact would largely be “reputational” for the company, including raising concerns among investors, financial institutions and customers.