The Morning Brief: Sandell Loses Ethan Allen Proxy Fight

Thomas Sandell’s Sandell Asset Management lost its proxy fight with Ethan Allen Interiors. The furniture maker said preliminary results indicate that shareholders “overwhelmingly voted” to elect all seven of its nominees at its annual meeting. The New York hedge fund firm had put up six director nominees.

“We are disappointed that the preliminary results indicate that our nominees were not ultimately elected” to the board, Sandell said in a statement. “However, we are encouraged that our involvement has been able to heighten investor awareness regarding a number of troubling governance issues.” Sandell promised to “maintain an intense level of scrutiny” on Ethan Allen’s operating results and monitor the board and its attempts to boost shareholder value.

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Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management is the latest activist firm to lock in investors for a longer period of time. The New York hedge fund firm said it will no longer allow quarterly redemptions for new investors, according to Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter. The new policy, which goes into effect on December 1, requires investors to choose whether to lock in for one year, three years or five years. As we reported earlier in the week, San Francisco-based ValueAct Capital is raising funds for a new investment tranche that would require investors to lock up their money for five years in a private-equity like structure, which would enable the hedge fund firm to draw down the capital over three years when it needs the money.

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London-based BH Macro, which invests virtually all of its capital in London-based Brevan Howard Asset Management’s Brevan Howard Master Fund, is back in positive territory after gaining 1.64 percent for the month through November 20. It is now up 1.42 percent for the year.