Alden Launches $142 Million Bid for Publisher Lee Enterprises (Bloomberg)
Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund that owns the Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News, offered to buy Lee Enterprises Inc. for about $142 million, seeking a larger share of the struggling newspaper business. In a letter to Lee’s board, Alden offered $24 a share in cash for the chain, which owns dozens of publications including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. That’s a 30% premium over Lee’s closing price on Nov. 19.
Hedge Funds Caught Up With Private Equity In Inflows Amid Rising Investor Satisfaction (Forbes)
It’s no secret that hedge funds have faced challenges since the Global Financial Crisis. Most funds struggled to generate alpha against their benchmarks, and investor outflows were staggering in some quarters. However, the pandemic appears to have changed this view, as more investors have seen improved value in their hedge fund holdings.
H&F, Bain Capital Tap into Health Tech Boom with $17 bln Athenahealth Deal (Reuters)
Nov 22 (Reuters) – Private-equity firms Hellman & Friedman LLC and Bain Capital on Monday agreed to buy Athenahealth for $17 billion, the latest sign of rising interest in companies powering the healthcare sector’s shift to the cloud. Privately held Athenahealth offers software that can help organize patient visits, document patient records and simplify payments. It competes with the likes of Cerner Corp (CERN.O).
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
Brummer & Partners Hires Henrik Nyblom (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Just days after Brummer & Partners-backed Frost Asset Management announced the closure of its Scandinavian-focused fixed-income relative value fund, Brummer & Partners announces the recruitment of technology-focused portfolio manager Henrik Nyblom. Nyblom, portfolio manager of Swedbank Robur Ny Teknik – one of Europe’s largest tech funds with about SEK 43 billion under management, will run a dedicated investment mandate initially solely available for investors in Brummer Multi-Strategy (BMS).
Activist Shorts Get Stuck into SPACs (Hedge Week)
There have been 35 activist short campaigns against SPACs that completed mergers since the beginning of 2020, according to new research from Insightia. The data highlights that shorts are the leading cause of grief for SPACs, a financial innovation that has taken off in the past two years. Eight activist short sellers have targeted more than one de-SPACed company, and at least one short seller has targeted a pre-merger SPAC, taking advantage of enthusiasm from retail investors sending the stock soaring. In contrast, no SPACs have been targeted by a long activist campaign. Experts cite market dynamics and takeover defences as the likely reason for this, while many activists have also launched their own SPACs.
