13F day came and went in a fury. We’ve been working up the suite of activist newsletters to go out later this week but did find time to put together this week’s edition of This Week In Activism. Before the TWIA action – here’s a sample from the major activist newsletter last quarter and of course the details can be found here.
THIS WEEK IN ACTIVISM VOL. 15
News—
- JANA Partners sold off its Ashland stake, of which, it had taken a an activist stake in the company back in 2013.
- Engaged Capital has upped its stake in Jamba to 10.2%, up from around 8%.
- Marathon Partners is waging a proxy battle at its long-time activist target Shutterfly.
- H Partners managed to overthrow the Tempur CEO and two board members.
New campaigns—
- Elliott Associates is now active in CDK Global, alongside Fir Tree and Sachem Head Capital, owning a 7.6% stake.
- Armistice Capital has gone active on Spectrum Pharma with a 5.2% stake.
Interesting activist reads around the web—
- Adidas takes step to defend against activist investors, Oregonlive
- DuPont wins board battle with activist investor, Plastic News
- Hedge fund activists buy McDonald’s, but are they lovin’ it?, Reuters
Most read posts from stockpucker this week—
- Early insights from 13F day, There’s a Seth Klarman vs. David Einhorn battle brewing. Einhorn pitched a “short the frackers” thesis at Sohn last week. His main target was the mother fracker, Pioneer Natural Resources ($PXD). Klarman revealed that he has it as a top 5 position.
- More 13F Insights: Kyle Bass, Jeff Smith and David Winters, Precision Castparts got a lot of attention from big name investors. This includes SQ, Soroban Capital, 3G, Tyrus, Farallon, Weitz Investment, Berkshire, Third Point and Eminence.
- Tempur Pedic: H Partners’ Unlikely Win, Last week, Tempur Sealy revealed that shareholders had voted to oust three board members. It accepted their resignation and essentially forced out the CEO.
- Closer to the Yum! Brands Spinoff?, J.P. Morgan said that it got the impression that a spinoff of Yum China was now more a “probability” than a “possibility.” They upped their target from $83 to $108.
In case you missed our last activist update, here it is.
Have feedback, or questions about certain activist campaigns, email us at [email protected]. Or drop us a line if there’s a campaign you want us to cover.
Until next week—stockpucker
