BusinessWeek- t’s no longer surprising when hedge funds do battle with a company’s management, agitating for everything from a board seat to the outright sale of the business. Shareholder activism isa staple investment strategy for a growing list of hedge funds.
It’s not every day, though, that an activist hedge takes on one of its peers. Yet that’s what’s about to happen in the proposed $3 billion buyout of Acxiom (ACXM), a Little Rock business data processing company.
BusinessWeek has learned that Acxiom’s second-biggest shareholder, Millbrook Capital Management, is going to oppose a proposed buyout of the company by the activist hedge fund ValueAct Capital and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, arguing the $27.10-a-share purchase price is too low. The company’s management agreed to the buyout on May 16, and as part of the deal, Charles Morgan, Acxiom’s chief executive, will continue on in his post.
In an interview on May 18, Clay B. Lifflander, Millbrook’s president, said the $700 million hedge fund, which has an 8% equity stake in Acxiom, will soon voice its objections to the deal in a regulatory filing and a letter to management. Lifflander says if Acxiom’s financial projections are accurate, the stock should be trading north of $35 a share a year from now. “We’re solid in our view,” says Lifflander.
