Farallon Capital Reveals 4.96% Stake In SolarWinds Inc. (SWI); New Development In Bidding War Between Icahn and Bridgestone For Pep Boys

The bidding war between Carl Icahn and Japanese tire maker Bridgestone for Pep Boys-Manny Moe and Jack (NYSE:PBY) is not completed just yet. On December 18, Icahn Enterprises proposed to acquire all the remaining shares of the struggling automotive aftermarket service and retail chain for $16.50 per share in cash, a transaction that would not be “subject to any due diligence, financing or antitrust conditions”. The recently-filled 13D by Carl Icahn and other public announcements revealed that the deal will take place unless Bridgestone “agrees to a transaction prior to 8:00 p.m., New York City time, on December 23, 2015 that is superior to the transaction” proposed by Icahn. Let us remind you Pep Boys-Manny Moe and Jack (NYSE:PBY) announced a merger deal in October, under which a subsidiary of Bridgestone was set to acquire all outstanding shares of the company for $15.00 per share in cash (Bridgestone commenced a tender offer on November 16 at $15.00 a share). Icahn Enterprises, which believes that the acquisition of Pep Buys “presents an excellent synergistic acquisition opportunity of Auto Plus”, proposed $15.50 per share on December 7 and Bridgestone raised its tender offer to $15.50 as well. Shares of Pep Boys are trading above the offer proposed by Carl Icahn, so market participants anticipate that the bidding war between the two parties is likely to continue.

A total of 18 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were invested in Pep Boys at the end of the third quarter, up from 16 a quarter earlier. By the same token, the value of their investments climbed to $147.24 million from $119.33 million during the quarter. It should be mentioned that the hedge funds monitored by our team accumulated 22.40% of the company’s outstanding common stock. Steven Boyd’s Armistice Capital acquired a new stake of 840,000 shares in Pep Boys-Manny Moe and Jack (NYSE:PBY) during the third quarter.

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