Activist passionates, heavy on the news front, solid blend of stories. Top activist news and stories below. Taking tips at daily newsletter. ICYMI, yesterday’s newsletter is here.
News:
- GAMCO has gone active at Myers Industries. It more than doubled its stake and now owns 15.2% of the company, and plans to nominate 3 directors for the board.
- Staples and Office Depot got their second request for info from the SEC in connection with their plans to merge.
- Bulldog Investors plans to elect directors to the the LMP Real Estate board and has requested shareholder info from the company.
- The Lionsgate and Starz share swap deal closed on Friday, Lionsgate now owns 26.2% of of series B Starz shares and 2.3% Series A.
- Barington Capital calls out Eastern Co. for its plans to expand its board by one seat at the annual meeting, not giving shareholders the chance to vote on the matter [h/t @finalternatives] with @stockpucker providing a condensed version of the letter [link]
- The saga of H Partners and Tempur Pedic continues. H Partners has sent a beast of a letter to Tempur, complete with copies of brokerage statements proving their ownership. H Partners takes issues with a number of things (most covered in the letter) but it’s most pressing issue is getting ahold of business records to start its solicitations for the proxy battle.
Stories:
- @valuewalk put out a piece on finding activist targeted stocks where activist investors might be looking to unlock value [link to VW piece], @stockpucker then takes that piece to task, noting that the title and premise might be little misleading to unknowing investors – the biggest issue being that most have already been taken to the woodshed by activists and there’s little upside in terms of the activist driven catalyst [link to SP piece]
- @AntoineGara at Forbes talks a little about corporate governance at spinoffs in the context of DuPont’s spinoff of Chemours, again more bickering between Trian Partners and DuPont. A small win here for Peltz, with DuPont changing the bylaws for Chemours to make it a bit more “shareholder friendly.” But AG notes the bigger issue in the Trian Partners and DuPont squabble is whether Nelson Peltz will be successful in its proxy battle [link]
- @finalternatives has a short story on how activism in Japan is heading up. Of note, Oasis Management (a Hong Kong-based activist) has taken a stake in Kyocera and has previously noted that Canon is interesting. Dan Loeb is already active in Japan as well, but with Japanese companies holding huge cash piles, expect more to come [link]
