Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners has taken a new activist position. The New York–based hedge fund firm on Friday disclosed it owns 9.7 percent of URS Corporation, a provider of engineering, construction, and technical services for government agencies and companies. In a 13D filing, Jana said it initially bought the shares because it thought they were undervalued but after reviewing its recently reported preliminary results for 2013 it decided to have discussions with individuals from the company regarding the composition of the board, its management, capital structure, corporate structure and other matters. The hedge fund also called on the company to delay the deadline for submitting board nominations and other proposals to be presented at the 2014 annual meeting.
Meanwhile, on Monday URS is reporting its official fourth-quarter and 2013 results and hosting a conference call after the market closes to discuss those results. No doubt Jana’s action will come up for discussion. The stock rose 2.40 percent to close at $46.50 on Friday.
— New York–based D.E. Shaw is cutting fees on its long-held illiquid investments, according to theWall Street Journal , citing people with knowledge of the matter. The $32 billion, multistrategy firm is reducing its management fee on so-called side pocket investments to 1.75 percent from 2.50 percent, starting in July, according to the report. The investments were made as long ago as 2006. The performance of these side-pockets has been flat since 2006, according to the report, which noted that last year D.E. Shaw’s Composite fund, a multistrategy fund, gained just 10 percent. We earlier reported that Oculus was essentially flat last year.
— New York–based hedge fund Flatbush Watermill reported it bought a 10.6 percent stake in d’ELiA’s in a private placement and will nominate one person to the board of the teen girl’s retailing chain. The hedge fund acquired Series B preferred stock and secured convertible notes in a private placement. Other hedge fund holders of d’ELiA’s include David Gallo’s Valinor Management, which revealed this week it has raised its stake to 18.7 percent, and Leon Cooperman, who personally owns a 6.93 percent stake.
— Total capital invested in emerging market hedge funds rose by more than $9 billion in the fourth quarter, to over $170 billion, according to industry tracker Hedge Fund Research. For the full year, total capital invested in emerging market hedge funds rose by nearly $20 billion, including inflows of more than $6.4 billion.
— William Ackman’s New York–based Pershing Square Capital Management announced it will conduct a conference call on March 11 that promises to highlight evidence that Herbalife is violating Chinese law. “The report will show that Herbalife’s business in China operates much like the company’s business in the rest of the world — as a pyramid scheme,” the press release states. Stand by for this one.
— Riverbed Technology on Friday rejected Elliott Management’s offer to acquire the company for $21 per share, asserting the proposal undervalues the network equipment maker and is not in the best interests of shareholders.
“The board will carefully review any credible offer to acquire the company that it receives,” Riverbed stated in a press release. “Any such offer must deliver value to our shareholders in excess of what we believe will be created as we execute on our growth plans.”
Elliott in February raised its offer from $19 in January. In response to the rejection, Elliott fired off a statement that read, in part: “Riverbed’s board has clearly chosen entrenchment over shareholder value. Shareholders should be outraged that the board is not acting in a manner consistent with its fiduciary obligations. The clear and correct path forward for the company is to engage in a dialogue with Elliott and other interested buyers so that we can conduct expedited diligence toward exploring a value-maximizing transaction.” The stock surged more than 8 percent on Friday after reports that Riverbed received informal inquiries from private equity firms Silver Lake Partners and KKR.
— Shares of Jos. A. Bank climbed nearly 3 percent Friday after the clothing retailer rejected the latest takeover offer from Men’s Wearhouse. However, the two companies said they will finally sit down and discuss a possible deal.
