Morning Brief: Corvex Signs Truce With Energen

Keith Meister’s Corvex Management and oil and gas producer Energen have reached a compromise agreement, according to a regulatory filing. Energen agreed to expand its board of directors by two to 11. One of the new directors is Vincent Intrieri, who has been associated with Carl Icahn investment funds since at least 2004. Meister previously worked for Icahn. The other new director is Jonathan Cohen, the founder of Atlas Energy and Atlas Pipeline Partners. In January, Corvex nominated four individuals to Energen’s board, including Intrieri and Cohen. Energen currently has a staggered board of directors, which won’t change under the agreement. Corvex currently owns 9.9 percent of the oil producer’s shares, making it the activist investor’s largest holding. Elliott Management and Millennium Management are also among the company’s top-10 shareholders.

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Melvin Capital Management disclosed in a regulatory filing that it owns more than 2.7 million shares of Thor Industries, or 5.1 percent of the maker of recreational vehicles. At yearend, it owned 725,000 shares and a sizable number of call options. The investment is passive.

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Boaz Weinstein’s Saba Capital Management fired off a letter to the board of directors of Delaware Enhanced Global Dividend & Income Fund, calling on the closed-end mutual fund to authorize a self-tender for all of its shares at or close to its net asset value (NAV). If more than 50 percent of the outstanding shares are tendered, the credit specialist urged the fund to cancel the buyback and liquidate, or convert to an open-end mutual fund, according to a regulatory filing. The proposals are designed to close Delaware Enhanced Global Dividend & Income Fund’s discount to NAV, currently at 5.73 percent. Its three-year average discount has been roughly 13 percent, according to Morningstar. Saba currently owns 12.05 percent of the fund’s shares.