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
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 »
Visium On M&A – Treasury Dept Regs, Mega-Mergers, PE And M&A Outlook
A Q&A With Frank Gallagher and Peter Drippé, Portfolio Managers at Visium Funds Q1: The Treasury Department recently tightened tax rules to deter U.S. companies from moving their corporate headquarters to lower-tax countries. How will these new regulations impact the current level of mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity? The new Treasury regulations will make […] Read more »
Energy Activism The Focus Of Vinson & Elkins
From Activist Insight An Interview With Kai Liekefett and Stephen Gill of Vinson & Elkins Have you noticed an upsurge in activism in the energy industry recently? Kai Liekefett: Up until 2012, activists weren’t really focused on this sector. But in the last three years, there were more than 30 reported activism campaigns in […] 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 »
A Lone Star Activist – An interview with Jeff Eberwein of Lone Star Value Management
From Activist Insight Not many activists run as many as five proxy contests a year, still less when their team consists of two members. Jeff Eberwein is no ordinary activist, however. His Lone Star Value Management has the most newly disclosed positions in 2014 according to Activist Insight’s count, making entering the activist investing game […] Read more »
Apple And The Activists
By Alex Gavrish, Etalon Investment Research and author of “Wall Street Back To Basics” It is clear that even without recent activist involvement by Carl Icahn in Apple, the stock provided an attractive investment opportunity. As of April 23th 2013, the day Apple announced second quarter results (FY 2013), the stock was trading at $406 […] Read more »
Bulldog Investors Returns To Using Proxy Contests
From Activist Insight Bulldog Investors LLC didn’t run a proxy contest in the first half of 2013, but all of a sudden two have come along at once. The activist, still one of the busiest around but less aggressive in recent years, announced last month that it would nominate directors at two companies – Firsthand Technology […] Read more »