Voce Capital Addresses Argo’s Attempted Justifications for Misuse of Corporate Assets

Voce Capital Management LLC (“Voce”), the beneficial owner of approximately 5.6% of the shares of Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. (NYSE: ARGO) (“Argo” or the “Company”), today commented on recent statements made by Argo, including in materials accompanying its definitive proxy statement (the “Proxy Statement”):

“On February 25, 2019, after Argo’s Board of Directors attempted to end-run our private discussions with it by unilaterally, and invalidly, stacking its Board with more hand-selected directors, we elected to bring our concerns about Argo’s governance, performance and prospects directly to our fellow shareholders in the form of a detailed and substantive letter (the “Shareholder Letter”). It’s not surprising to us that Argo’s recently-issued letter to shareholders is replete with selective and misleading attempts to explain away the multitude of issues that Voce has raised with respect to the Company’s excessive expenses and misuse of corporate assets. After a careful review of Argo’s materials, we believe that its responses raise yet more questions – questions to which shareholders deserve honest and complete answers. In particular, Argo’s responses are especially deficient in the following key areas:

1. Does Argo truly believe that a stock price merely rising in tandem with its peers justifies the misuse of corporate assets, including a fleet of three aircraft and a global network of corporate housing, for personal use by its CEO?

While Argo continues to reiterate that its stock price has appreciated over time, its shareholder returns, inclusive of dividends, are merely in-line with those of its actual peers (and not its special peer group specifically designed for benchmarking purposes). No amount of stock price gains can legitimize the commingling of personal and corporate priorities or the personal use of corporate assets by senior management, which we believe is the norm at Argo, as we have demonstrated exhaustively.

2. Why will Argo not come clean about its corporate housing program?

In our Shareholder Letter, we took exception to Argo’s provision of Bermuda housing to Mr. Watson in light of the $2.9 million relocation bonus it had previously paid him, ostensibly to move to Bermuda. Subsequently, the Company announced the termination of the housing stipend, but notably did not acknowledge or address the long-term lease that we believe Argo undertook for Mr. Watson’s benefit at “The Jungle,” a luxurious villa along billionaire’s row that has served as his private home when he’s in Bermuda.