Activist investor Elliott's top European holdings

By Reuters

Published on 27/06/2019 - 18:04•Updated 25/04/2024 - 16:00

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - U.S. activist hedge fund Elliott Management announced on Thursday it had taken a 2.1% stake in German agrichemicals and pharma company Bayer <BAYGn.DE> Here are some of New York-headquartered Elliott's topholdings in Europe (in alphabetical order):

AC Milan:

- Lent 300 million euros (268 million pounds) to China's Li Yonghong in March 2017 to fund the acquisition of players and bank debt repayments at Italian football club AC Milan

- Elliott took control of the team in July 2018 after Lidefaulted on his obligations towards the club

Akzo Nobel <AKZO.AS>:

- 3% stake revealed in March 2017

- Elliott was last reported to have a 9.5% stake and has agreed to support management's current strategy after PPG's <PPG.N> failed approach in 2017

Banco BPM <BAMI.MI>:

- BPM agreed to sell up to 7.8 billion euros in bad loans along with a stake in its debt recovery business toCredito Fondiario and Elliott on Dec. 10

- Feb. 6: Elliott to underwrite 95% of an equity tranche in Banco BPM's 7.4 billion euro 'ACE' bad loan securitisation sale

Bayer <BAYGn.DE>:

- Stake of under 3% reported by Reuters in December 2018

- Elliott discloses 2.1% stake in Bayer on June 26, 2019, and says it welcomes the company's new approach in tackling its multibillion-dollar glyphosate litigation issue

BHP Billiton <BLT.L>:

- 4.66% stake disclosed on April 10, 2017

- Elliott called for the company to sell off its oilbusiness and ditch its dual listing structure

Credito Fondiario:

- Elliott became an investor in the Italian bank and badloan specialist in 2016

- Raised stake to 81.6% in 2018 after buying into areserved capital increase and converting some shares

- Credito Fondiario is studying options to expand with the help of investment bank Goldman Sachs, sources told Reuters on June 27, 2019.

Dufry <DUFN.S>:

- 0.94% stake in the airport retailer disclosed on Dec. 20, 2017

Fidessa Group <FDSA.L>:

- 4.0967% stake in the British software firm revealed on Feb. 21, 2018

GEA Group <G1AG.DE>:

- 3.01% stake in German food processing company revealed on Oct. 11, 2017

- Elliott’s stake is now 5%

GKN <GKN.L>:

- 3.8% stake disclosed on Jan. 15

- Pressured GKN to engage in takeover talks with potentialacquirer Melrose Industries <MRON.L> before deal went ahead

Hammerson <HMSO.L>:

- 1.53% stake disclosed on April 20, 2018

- 2.03% stake disclosed on April 25, 2018

- Feb. 25, 2019: Elliott gives backing to company plan tosell assets, cut debt and expand its board.

Intertrust <INTER.AS>

- A 6.1% stake in the Dutch trust and business administration company was disclosed on Feb. 13, 2019.

Micro Focus <MCRO.L>:

- 5.1% stake confirmed by Elliott on April 23, 2018

Pernod Ricard <PERP.PA>:

- 2.5% stake disclosed on Dec. 12, 2018

- Asked board to consider its analysis and views on valuecreation.

- On April 18, 2019: Pernod raises its profit outlook.

- Company says having regular "courteous" talks withElliott.

RPC <RPC.L>

- Stake trimmed to 7.8% on April 18, from 7.9% on March 21.

- Comes amid takeover bid for RPC from plastics maker BerryGlobal Group <BERY.N>.

SAP <SAPG.DE>

- Elliott announces a 1.2 billion euros stake in the Germantechnology company and says it supports the push by SAP management to sharpen operational execution on April 24, 2019.

- SAP CEO Bill McDermott praises Elliott as a "fantastic investor" on May 7, 2019.

SLM Solutions <AM3D.DE>

- Elliott invested in SLM in 2017 in anticipation of atakeover by General Electric <GE.N>, but was wrong-footed as GEturned to peer Arcam instead.

- 29.8% stake in German 3D printing firm disclosed on April 3, 2019.

Stada <STAGn.DE>

- 3.6% stake in German pharmaceutical company revealed on July 6, 2017

Telecom Italia <TLIT.MI>:

- 8.85% stake disclosed on March 5, 2018

- Explainer on Telecom Italia governance tussle:

- March 27, 2019: Italy's state lender CDP seeks to broker a truce between Vivendi and Elliott, to end a boardroom battle that has paralysed the group

- March 29, 2019: Vivendi drops bid for Telecom Italia boardreshuffle

Thyssenkrupp <TKAG.DE>:

- Stake of less than 3% revealed in May 2018 by Elliott

- Elliott said it believed the company had significant scopefor operational improvement which would benefit all stakeholders

- Jan. 24, 2019: Elliott doubts merits of plan to splitcompany in two

Uniper <UN01.DE>

- 2.4% stake in German energy company announced on Dec. 5, 2017

- March 19, 2019: Uniper says Elliott's voting rights now at6.39%; total stake 17.84%

- March 21: Elliott calls for shareholder vote to pushUniper management to discuss deal with Fortum, but drops the motion on May 21.

- June 5: Uniper says it had been notified by Elliott that the investors aims to implement strategic objectives, including potentially removing key personnel

Waterstones

- Book retailer acquired by Elliott on April 26, 2018,price undisclosed

Whitbread <WTB.L>

- 6% stake revealed on April 14, 2018

- Whitbread said on April 25 it would spin off Costa Coffeeafter pressure from Elliott and other investors

(Reporting by Maiya Keidan, Carolyn Cohn, Simon Jessop and Valentina Za, Arno Schuetze, Sudip Kar-Gupta, Toby Sterling and Edward Taylor; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Mark Potter)

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