Breakdown: Telecom Italia’s three-way poker game 23 Apr 2018 The incumbent telco is entangled in its umpteenth debilitating corporate fight. The row pits U.S. activist investor Paul Singer against French financier Vincent Bolloré. But an Italian state investor may be the key player. Breakingviews explains how the cards will fall.
Icahn offers poaching insurance for VMware 18 Apr 2018 A stake purchase by the activist investor could add friction in a potential merger of the $53 bln software company with its controlling shareholder Dell. Minority shareholders in VMware ought to expect fair treatment. Icahn's presence might help ensure they get it.
Icahn will need to work to extend winning streak 16 Apr 2018 The investor is selling Tropicana, the casino he plucked out of bankruptcy, for $1.85 bln. It follows last week’s sale of Federal-Mogul to Tenneco, and Volkswagen is knocking on Navistar’s door. A bull market has given Icahn a hot hand, but it makes deploying the cash a challenge.
Volkswagen overhaul may give Carl Icahn a lift 16 Apr 2018 New CEO Herbert Diess is mulling an IPO for its truck unit. It’d be a smoother ride if VW boosts its minority holding in U.S. peer Navistar to a controlling stake. Icahn and two other pushy investors own 40 pct of the $3.9 bln outfit - and are likely to want a hefty premium.
Tenneco and Icahn pull a mini DowDuPont 10 Apr 2018 The U.S. auto-parts maker is paying $5.4 bln including debt for Federal-Mogul, owned by the investor’s listed entity. The plan is to break the merged company into two, boosting the overall value. Shareholders shoulder risk when deals have several steps. But the logic holds up.
Travelport must hope Elliott inspires others 26 Mar 2018 Paul Singer's hedge fund has put the travel-tech company in play by taking a 12 pct stake, and may even make a bid. The risk is Elliott could bully the company into a bad deal, but the potential to boost margins makes it a ripe target. Shareholders should welcome wider interest.
Icahn-Newell pact clarifies Starboard’s value 19 Mar 2018 The maker of Sharpie pens and Crock-Pot cookers is giving the investor’s firm four board seats, including chairman, and handing it control of divestitures. Icahn’s entry confirms Starboard’s line that Newell needs an overhaul, while showing his fellow activist’s strategic limits.
Activists and their targets grow up together 19 Mar 2018 Investor militancy is no longer a cottage industry. Activist shareholders increasingly go after big game, with stakes in companies worth 26 pct of the S&P 500's capitalization. They come better prepared – and with allies. Boards, meanwhile, are learning to head off public fights.
Qualcomm shows the strain with NXP bid hike 20 Feb 2018 Sweetening its offer for the rival chipmaker looks like an attempt to disrupt Qualcomm’s own suitor even as proxy advisers urge efforts to negotiate a deal. Broadcom’s $120 bln attempt to make a tech monster may yet fail, but Qualcomm’s board is becoming less of an obstacle.
Chancellor: Beware the volatility bubble’s popping 8 Feb 2018 Shorting volatility has been one of the most prevalent and conspicuous features of the markets since the financial crisis. A crack has now appeared in the so-called "short vol" boom. Investors should take note. The froth wasn't just confined to speculators trading XIV notes.
Bull market lets activists see virtue in passivity 26 Jan 2018 Bill Ackman, who lost his fight with ADP, has taken a stake in Nike but isn’t pushing for change. Dan Loeb sat back as Honeywell’s new boss ignored his advice and beat his targets anyway. Even pushy hedge funds can be tempted to simply ride the waves when a rally lifts all boats.
Elliott finds another target for its power play 23 Jan 2018 FirstEnergy shares spiked after a $2.5 bln capital injection from the activist hedge fund and others. Elliott is reprising a ploy that made NRG the best performer in the S&P 500 last year. That deal had hiccups though, and the latest one will too. Shareholders should buckle up.
The Exchange: Trian’s Nelson Peltz 22 Jan 2018 Fresh from successfully gaining a seat on the board of Procter & Gamble, the biggest proxy fight in corporate American history, the founder and CEO of Trian Fund Management sat down for a discussion at Times Square on how investors can better engage with, and improve, the companies they own.
ThyssenKrupp takes second step to redemption 19 Jan 2018 Having pooled its steel assets with rival Tata, the German industrial group plans a further strategy shift. Just as well: margins even in the non-steel bits lag peers. The question is how far CEO Heinrich Hiesinger can follow the vogue for dismantling big, unwieldy conglomerates.
Wells Fargo, Under Armour may attract activists 10 Jan 2018 They at least were the favorites in two informal Breakingviews polls on Tuesday. Fallout from the big lender’s scandals and the athletics brand’s stock-market loser status in 2017 are among the reasons. By investor Nelson Peltz’s criteria, though, both have drawbacks as targets.
Steyer’s largess a double-edged sword for Democrats 8 Jan 2018 Billionaire Tom Steyer plans to shower $30 mln on Democratic candidates this year. That might help the party take control of the House in the U.S. midterm elections. But the hedge funder’s parallel campaign to impeach President Trump could complicate their task if they win power.
Can Nelson Peltz clean up at P&G? 8 Jan 2018 Now that Trian Management founder Nelson Peltz is on the board of consumer-goods giant Procter & Gamble, Breakingviews has created a calculator to show how the market value of the $230 billion group could increase if revenue growth and margins improve.
Peltz may go from nice to nasty at P&G 8 Jan 2018 The activist, now on the $230 bln consumer-goods giant’s board, has said P&G should slash costs and steal market share. That may boost the stock by over 10 pct, Breakingviews calculates. To get much more, Peltz might suggest a deeper cut: offloading razor maker Gillette.
Guest view: Proxy fights as commonplace in 2018 5 Jan 2018 Though 2017 was the year of big-time contests like Trian versus P&G, get ready for more contentious and expensive battles for control of Corporate America, argues Columbia Business School's Wei Jiang. She offers four key factors that boards and investors should consider.
Passive funds will claim a CEO scalp in 2018 2 Jan 2018 Index trackers keep winning market share but companies can’t take their passivity for granted. State Street campaigns for gender diversity, Vanguard and BlackRock defied Exxon on climate change, and the latter backed Nelson Peltz at P&G. Firing a poor manager is the next step.