Activist feens, one of the better Mondays in quiet awhile. News and stories for April 27 below. As always, tip us off at @activiststocks, sign up for the free daily activist email (again with the new setup), and ICYMI the latest newsletter is here.
News-
- Trian and Nelson Peltz booked a much-needed win with ISS recommending that he and his posse be placed on the DuPont ($DD) board.
- Elaine Wynn loses fight to keep a board seat at Wynn.
- Barry Rosenstein was on Sunday’s edition of wallstreetweek.com with @Scaramucci. On it, he painted himself as the Drake of the finance industry, having started from the bottom and now being “here.” Barry is well hated on fintwitter (see #janasucks), but the show is worth a watch. Rosenstein also notes that he saw Larry Fink coming into a restaurant on the day that Fink penned his letter to S&P 500 CEOs bashing activism, and just as he was about to snatch him up, Fink came clean and said the letter was more about getting companies to study the activists’ demands on a case by case basis.
- Fanuc Corp., the Japan-based robot maker, caved to Dan Loeb and Third Point. Noting that it would return 60% of its net profit to shareholders. “I thought Rosenstein said Japanese Activism didn’t work,..well done Danny/Wall Street Week was weak sauce yesterday” – @DennyCrane550
- LSB Industries buckles under pressure from Starboard Value. The company is now considering a split of its business, including using an MLP structure for its climate control business. LSB is also adding five Starboard nominees to the board. The stock is up 32% since Starboard went active in November [details of the settlement here]
- This comes after Starboard Value also booked a win at Insperity on Friday, getting a board nominee elected. Shares of Insperity are up 40% since the fund went active in January.
Stories-
- @DavidBogoslaw at Corporate Secretary penned a piece last week that we’re just getting around to reading. He details four key phrases that should be red flags if management uses them, including, “1) ’We have a balanced approach’, 2) How a company describes its share repurchase authorization, 3) Comparing a company’s share performance with that of a broad market index?, 4) ’We’re focusing on the long term’…” [link]
