Insider Spotlight
Cats built Telit into a global supplier of technology connecting machines and devices to cellular networks, then took it public in London in 2005, according to DITO’s nominee profile.
He’s one of two new directors nominated to the board of DITO CME—the parent firm of DITO Telecommunity, which is backed by Davao-based tycoon Dennis A. Uy and state-backed China Telecom—ahead of its annual stockholders’ meeting on Oct. 21 this year.
What isn't mentioned is how that career ended: Cats left Telit in 2017 after the company discovered a decades-old US fraud indictment that it said he had kept from its board.
From dealmaker to scandal
Reuters reported that Cats resigned after Telit confirmed he had been indicted more than 25 years earlier over an alleged mortgage fraud scheme involving properties bought and resold at inflated prices.
An arrest warrant had been issued under the alternative spelling Uzi Katz, although he was never detained, according to Boston federal court documents reviewed by Reuters.
Meanwhile, these revelations triggered an investigation inside the company Cats had spent years building.
The BBC reported that Telit found he had concealed the indictment, while The Guardian reported that investigators concluded Cats was Uzi Katz, whom Boston court records described as a “fugitive defendant” in connection with the alleged scheme.
Telco industry experience
Cats nevertheless arrives with the kind of operating experience DITO is seeking.
He used acquisitions of businesses from Motorola Solutions and NXP to expand Telit into areas including connected cars, while building experience taking telecom technology and deals across borders.
DITO is now giving Cats his biggest telecom platform in years. But his industry experience comes with baggage that turned his previous telecom success into one of the sector’s more dramatic corporate scandals.
What’s next for DITO?
Cats’ entry, alongside Xinxin Wang—who has experience in investments and private equity—is fueling speculation about the entry of a new investor in DITO CME.
After Uy, the next largest shareholder is the Summit Telco Group via Summit Telco Holdings Corp. (with 15.36 percent ownership) and Summit Telco Corp. Pte. Ltd. (7.4 percent).
InsiderPH previously reported delays by the Summit Group in infusing additional capital into DITO, prompting the telco holding firm to seek another strategic partner.
Summit’s interests in DITO are represented by director Chun Lam Chan, chief financial executive of DITO Telecommunity, who was again nominated to the DITO CME board this year.
—Edited by Miguel R. Camus
