Activist Stocks: MGM; Myers; Ariad Pharma; Polonia Bancorp

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Activist apostles, in the words of the great TI, big shit is poppin’ today. The Wednesday ramp is in full effect. News and stories for April 29 below. Tip us off @activiststocks, sign up for the free daily activist email (in constant beast iteration mode), and ICYMI the latest newsletter is here.

News-

  • MGM sent a letter to its shareholders rebutting some of Land & Buildings claims [letter here], key being that L&B has a “…flawed proposal and mischaracterization of MGM’s performance and investment decisions.” L&B will be holding a conference call to talk about MGM tomorrow at 4p. They’ll also be releasing a presentation beforehand. Popcorn? Check.
  • GAMCO’s short slate of 3 directors (9-person board) were backed by shareholders yesterday for Myers. A long fought battle for GAMCO, where it’s been waging a proxy battle for four straight years now. GAMCO owns over 20% of the company.
  • Sarissa Capital forced Ariad Pharma founder / CEO into retirement. The stock has been crushed due to safety concerns.
  • PIMCO annual meeting today, so we’ll see just how badass Ironside Partners is given its proxy battle. Maybe Bernanke can help straighten that place out, god knows Bill Gross would have never let this happen [more on the Ironsides debacle]

Stories-

  • @oddballstocks has a piece up over at SeekingAlpha on Polonia Bancorp. Core thesis, “Investors have an opportunity to invest alongside well known bank activist hedge funds that will do the heavy lifting required to convince a bank’s management to sell.” Activist involved there include PL Capital, Maltese Capital, the ever beastly Stilwell, among others (owning nearly 40% of the bank) [link]
  • @OJRenick at BBG talks about activism in railroads, pointing to options on CSX and Norfolk Southern. Of note, “the trading was reminiscent of what occurred with Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. when billionaire hedge-fund manager William Ackman was buying shares…” Now you’ll recall that Hunter Harrison of Canadian Pacific was telling people just the other week that activism in rails was long overdue. It seems that merging a few of these guys is a no-brainer [link]

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