Tempur Sealy International Inc (TPX): H Partners’ Unlikely Win by Stock Pucker
Last week, Tempur Sealy revealed that shareholders had voted to oust three board members. It accepted their resignation and essentially forced out the CEO. It’s really rather unprecedented, where H Partners wasn’t even able to run a conventional proxy battle – having missed the nomination deadline.
The lesson here; when you’ve got nearly 30% of your fund in the stock, don’t underestimate the power of the activist. By any means necessary type of deal. This includes a 100-page presentation. Long-term, I’m still not sure how the stock plays out – the industry is becoming commoditized. The turnaround plan is still uncertain, besides a transition in marketing spend. The stock is up 30% or so in the last couple months; the easy money has been made.
