Billionaire Robbins Turns Activist on Tenet Healthcare Corp (THC), Buffett Keeps Buying Phillips 66 (PSX), Plus 2 Other Moves

Lastly, in a freshly-submitted filing with the SEC, Glenn W. Welling’s Engaged Capital LLC urges HeartWare International Inc. (NASDAQ:HTWR)’s shareholders to vote against the acquisition of private company Valtech Cardio at the company’s Special Meeting that takes place on February 19. Let us remind you that HeartWare International sealed a merger agreement with the Israeli company last year, under which the two companies are set to become subsidiaries of a new holding company called HW Global. Engaged Capital, which owns 1.3% of HeartWare International Inc. (NASDAQ:HTWR)’s outstanding common stock, publicly revealed its opposition to the proposed acquisition of Valtech at the end of December. To be more specific, the investment firm urged the medical device company’s Board to walk away from the deal, arguing that the acquisition significantly dilutes shareholder value and adds unnecessary long-term business risks. Moreover, Engaged Capital believes that there is no point in “taking on the enormous and unnecessary risks associated with Valtech, when there is a clear, lower-risk path to significant shareholder value creation: executing in the company’s core VAD business”. Other investors may not agree with Welling’s assessment, as the number of hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey with positions in HeartWare climbed to 21 from 15 during the third quarter, during which time the deal was announced. Adage Capital Management owns 1.72 million shares of HeartWare International Inc. (NASDAQ:HTWR) as of September 30.

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