How the Icahn-Ackman ‘Battle of the Billionaires’ on CNBC Became a Defining Moment of the Decade (CNBC)
The public and oftentimes nasty wars waged by activist investors this decade are personified by the 2013 “Battle of the Billionaires” on CNBC. The live, on-air brawl nearly seven years ago featured Carl Icahn and Bill Ackman. The epic fight over their opposing views on global nutritional supplements company Herbalife played out on “Fast Money Halftime Report” with CNBC’s Scott Wapner from the New York Stock Exchange.
Hedge Fund Praesidium to Oppose Instructure Sale to Thoma Bravo: Filing (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Praesidium Investment Management said on Thursday it will vote against Instructure Inc’s (INST.N) plan to sell itself to private equity firm Thoma Bravo, becoming the second big investor to speak out against the proposed $2 billion deal. “Due to our growing concerns over the potentially flawed and conflicted process and the resulting bid that we feel undervalues the Company, Praesidium believes the proposed deal is not in the best interests of shareholders and intends to vote against the deal as it is currently presented,” Praesidium’s two founders wrote to Instructure’s board on Thursday.
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How the 1% Scrubs Its Image Online (The Wall Street Journal)
Jacob Gottlieb was considering raising money for a hedge fund. One problem: His last one had collapsed in a scandal. While Mr. Gottlieb wasn’t accused of wrongdoing, googling his name prominently surfaced news articles chronicling the demise of Visium Asset Management LP, which once managed $8 billion. The results also included articles about his top portfolio manager, who died by suicide days after he was indicted for insider trading in 2016, and Mr. Gottlieb’s former brother-in-law, an employee of Visium who was convicted…
Investors in Collapsed Woodford Fund to Get Half Their Cash in January (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of investors trapped in the former flagship fund of veteran money manager Neil Woodford should get just over half their money back in January, but may have to wait some time to recover more from the collapsed business. Woodford, who made his name as a contrarian investor over a 30-plus-year career, has come under fire from regulators and investors for the 3 billion pound ($3.85 billion) LF Woodford Equity Income Fund’s heavy exposure to unlisted, hard-to-sell stocks.
Clough Global Dividend And Income Fund Declares A Monthly Cash Distribution Of $0.1008 Per Share (PRNewswire.com)
DENVER, Dec. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) for the Clough Global Dividend and Income Fund (the “Fund”) has declared a monthly cash distribution of $0.1008 per common share. The following dates apply to the distribution declared: Ex-Date: December 20, 2019. Record Date: December 23, 2019. Payable Date: December 31, 2019. A portion of the distribution may be treated as paid from sources other than net income, including but not limited to short-term capital gain, long-term capital gain and return of capital. The final determination of the source of all distributions, including the percentage of qualified dividend income, will be made after year-end.
How Culture Drives Performance in Private Equity GPs (Preqin)
A strong culture built on intentional core values matters in any business. We hear from Partner Chris Freund on the three core values that have helped Vietnam-focused private equity firm Mekong Capital to drive performance at investee companies. 1. Responsibility: Until 2007, Mekong Capital faced a lot of difficulties. Few to none of our investee companies were achieving their targets and profit was not growing. Every year, members of our investment team were buying into excuses such as “it was a difficult market this year,” or “someone else got us into this mess and I’m not responsible.”
