Activism’s New Paradigm

By Gregory Taxin and Betsy Atkins*   Shareholder activism in the U.S. has increased greatly over the past decade, measured not only in scope and the pools of capital dedicated to it but also in sophistication and in the range of tactics employed. There is currently more than $120 billion in dedicated activist funds at work, […] Read more »

Activism’s New Rules

Activist WordItOut-word-cloud-371598 650x558 lead article illustration

By Montieth M. Illingworth, president of Montieth & Company   There it was in black and white in none other than The New York Times. Quotes from the CEO of DowDuPont, followed by ones from a line up of shareholders echoing the sentiment, that all is now actually much better for the company. The breakup once […] Read more »

The Year in Activism Infographic

From Activist Insight   related content: Consultant Verus Negative on Outlook for Event Driven Hedge Funds (Jan 2017) Can Activism Survive A Down Market? (March 2016) John Paulson on the Benefits of Activism (Dec 2010)   Read more »

Outlook for Event Driven Strategies from Quaker Funds

By Thomas F. Kirchner, Portfolio Manager, and Paul Hoffmeister, Portfolio Strategist of Quaker Funds, Inc.   The market environment for event driven strategies Credit conditions remain highly favorable for corporations to execute and complete corporate transactions. We expect the current environment, the result of two years of relative macroeconomic calm, to continue during the near-term. […] Read more »

Activist Funds Approach $100bn

From Eurekahedge*   Hedge funds deploying shareholder activism as a key cornerstone of their investment strategy have attracted much attention as of late. This overview takes a quick review of their performance and asset growth over the last couple of years. Graphic 1 and Table 1 show the performance of activist hedge funds relative to […] Read more »

Jana Partners Uses Options To Manage Exposure To PetSmart

By Alex Gavrish, Etalon Investment Research; author of “Wall Street Back To Basics”   With activist investors more active than ever, more and more attention is being paid by investors to the investments they make. Publicity often reduces hedge funds maneuverability and ability to trade positions quickly. Fund managers have to work with this restriction […] Read more »

Event Driven Strategy Outlook: Looking Beyond Merger Arb

By Alex Gavrish, Etalon Investment Research and author of “Wall Street Back To Basics”   Credit Suisse recently released its Annual Hedge Fund Investor Survey. The survey, produced by Credit Suisse’s Capital Services Group, is one of the most comprehensive in the industry, with over 500 respondents – including pension funds, endowments, consultants, family offices […] Read more »

Activism On A Roll

By Stephen Bornstein, Principal of Wall Street Counsel Hedge fund activists are sitting in the catbird seat right now.  They had a great 2013, winning 68% of their proxy fights (compared to 43% in 2012), raising more than $7 billion in new capital and targeting 20 companies with market values above $10 billion. There are […] Read more »

Corporate Governance Is More Than A Tool To Today’s Activist Investors

From Activist Insight Traditional activists were essentially value investors, but that profile might be changing. For example,  Carl Icahn has long championed the interests of shareholders. Yet even many who had watched him for years were surprised by the vehemence of his Wall Street Journal Op-ed after withdrawing from the shareholder vote on Dell’s leveraged […] Read more »

Activist Hedge Funds – Book Extract

By Alex Gavrish, CEO of Etalon Investment Research and author of “Wall Street: Back To Basics” The following is a chapter from Alex Gavrish’s book “Wall Street: Back to Basics”*. Two of the three case studies in this chapter on Activist Investors have been included.   Chapter 4: Activist Investors   Activist shareholder activity has […] Read more »