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3/23/2026

Victory Capital Fires Back at Peltz's Trian as Janus Bidding War Drags On

Reuters (03/23/26) Basil, Arasu Kannagi

Victory Capital (VCTR.O) on Monday fired back at Nelson Peltz's Trian over the criticism of its latest $8.6 billion proposal for asset manager Janus Henderson (JHG.N), saying the investor was making "efforts to blanket market with misinformation." San Antonio, Texas-based Victory said recent reports regarding the purported views of Janus' employees and clients on its proposal were an attempt to "manufacture uncertainty" in the market around its ability to close the proposed transaction. Trian, Janus' largest shareholder with a 20.7% stake, had on Friday raised concerns about Victory's sweetened offer, which rivals its own take-private deal with Janus. The high-stakes battle for the $493 billion asset manager has intensified in recent weeks, after Victory in late February went public with its $8.6 billion cash-and-stock offer for Janus. Despite being spurned multiple times by the Janus board since November, Victory has maintained its dogged pursuit for the asset manager. The firm last week sweetened its $8.6 billion bid with more cash. Janus declined to comment. Trian and General Catalyst did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that clients, including senior officials at wealth-management arms of Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Citigroup (C.N) had expressed discomfort to Janus executives about Victory's plans and potential cost cuts. Addressing the media reports, Victory said it "has been told that those statements in the press do not reflect the corporate positions of these institutions." The firm said the wealth-management units of Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are clients of both Victory and Janus and are familiar with its products. "Victory Capital believes these are manufactured attempts by those who stand to benefit from the transaction to create uncertainty and doubt about Victory Capital's superior proposal," it said.

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3/23/2026

GAM Investors Call for Liontrust Sale

Financial Planning Today (UK) (03/23/26)

Two GAM investors have today called for Liontrust Asset Management (LON: LIO) to sell the business to the highest bidder after claiming the firm is “significantly undervalued.” The call comes three years after Liontrust’s bid to take over GAM was rejected by shareholders. Albert Saporta and Randel Freeman, portfolio managers of the GAM Global Opportunities Fund and the GAM Global Special Situations Fund, have published an open letter to John Ions, CEO of Liontrust, calling for an immediate strategic review. The two funds hold around 3.6% of Liontrust’s share capital. The letter argues that Liontrust is significantly undervalued, with its share price having declined around 85% from its September 2021 peak. Assets under management have fallen from £42.3 billion to around £22 billion over the same period, valuing the company at only 0.68% of AUM. The managers suggest that the current leadership “has failed to articulate a credible strategy for reversing this decline and that shareholders would be better served by a sale process given the rapid pace of consolidation across the UK asset management sector.” The letter to Ions says he has “tried several things during your exceedingly long tenure at Liontrust to prop-up the share price, and none of it seems to be working.” It congratulates him, “on your recent very small deal to acquire River Global’s asset management business at an attractive valuation … However, this deal, your first in five years, like several of the other initiatives you have been trying, smacks of 'way too little too late.'” The letter accuses Ions of having, “lost credibility in the eyes of your shareholders in your ability to turnaround the firm.” Saporta and Freeman, have led other campaigns including challenging the terms of a proposed tender offer for Yutaka Giken, and an open letter to SBI Holdings calling for enhanced transparency and shareholder value maximization.

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3/23/2026

Tripadvisor Adds Four Directors in Deal With Starboard Value

Investing.com (03/23/26)

Tripadvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) announced today that it has entered into a cooperation agreement with Starboard Value LP under which four new directors will join the company’s board. According to a press release statement, Dhiren Fonseca and Andrew F. Cates have been appointed to the board effective immediately. Starboard will recommend two additional directors for election at Tripadvisor’s 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The board will expand from eight to ten directors with the appointments of Fonseca and Cates, and will remain at ten directors following the annual meeting. Under the cooperation agreement, Starboard will not nominate a slate of director candidates and will vote all its shares in favor of each of Tripadvisor’s board nominees at the 2026 Annual Meeting. Starboard has also agreed to customary standstill, voting and other provisions. Fonseca, 61, currently serves as Executive Chairman of Rent the Runway, Inc. (NASDAQ: RENT) since October 2025. He previously held various roles at Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), including Chief Commercial Officer from 2012 to 2014. Cates, 55, has served as Managing Member of Value Acquisition Fund LLC since founding the company in 2005. He also serves as Chief Executive Officer and General Partner of RVC Outdoor Destinations, which he founded in 2007. Greg Maffei, Chairman of Tripadvisor, said the company is pleased to welcome the new directors to the board. Jeff Smith, Managing Member and Chief Executive Officer of Starboard, said the firm invested in Tripadvisor based on its view of the company as a global leader in online travel. A full copy of the cooperation agreement will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a Current Report on Form 8-K.

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3/22/2026

Activists Target Japan’s Shipping Stocks on Rising Vessel Prices

Bloomberg (03/22/26) Tsutsumi, Kentaro; Du, Lisa

Investors are piling into Japanese shipping stocks as limited shipbuilding capacity and elevated freight rates boost the value of their fleets. Elliott Investment Management LP said earlier this month that it has taken a “significant” stake in Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd. (TYO: 9104), adding that “the market materially undervalues the business.” This follows a similar move by investment firm Fuel, which built a stake of about 5% in Tamai Steamship Co (TYO: 9127). Vessel prices, which have been trending upward globally, driven by robust demand, inflation and limited shipbuilding capacity have also been lifting unrealized gains of shipping fleets. The war in the Middle East has also lifted freight rates. Large tankers with an age of 15 years are now valued at around $78 million — up 39% this year and are at the highest level since records began in 2013. Elliott believes Mitsui OSK should sell off its property assets or seek a relisting for its real estate subsidiary, Daibiru, in order to improve its valuation, according to people familiar with the fund’s thinking. Additionally, Elliott is also focused on the potential gains to the company’s capital efficiency from selling and leasing back some of its fleet, the people added. The U.S. fund believes the market value of the vessels Mitsui OSK owns are worth more than double their book value of 1.3 trillion yen, the people said. Good quality, Japanese-built used vessels command high prices, and transport disruptions due to the Iran war have further boosted valuations of large tankers, said Veson Nautical Corp. analyst Rebecca Galanopoulos. Bulk carriers are also valued at a record $34 million on average, according to data compiled by the U.S. shipping solution firm. “Dry bulk carrier prices are at historically high levels, and the company should consider realizing paper gains through measures such as leasebacks,” said Yushun Ozawa, CEO of investment firm Fuel, referring to Tamai Steamship. Ozawa added that even excluding unrealized gains on vessels, the company’s equity ratio is excessively high. Activists have long maintained that Japanese equities are undervalued, taking into account assets such as real estate, cross-share holdings and cash. Investors are now starting to focus on shipping assets. Hibiki Path Advisors, which has raised its stake in Tamai Steamship to around 9%, said in a letter that the firm’s after-tax unrealized gains on vessels totaled an estimated ¥3.7 billion as of last September, implying the stock is deeply undervalued. Zennor Asset Management reported a 5.05% stake in NS United Kaiun Kaisha Ltd. (TYO: 9110), according to a filing to Japan’s Finance Ministry. Other activists that have recently invested in shippers include Hong Kong-based LIM Advisors Ltd., which disclosed more than a 5% stake in Inui Global Logistics Co. (TYO: 9308) last month. U.S.-based Miri Capital Management LLC also holds over 8% of the company’s shares. The extent to which paper profits can be realized at a large scale is uncertain. Unlike securities or real estate, vessels are core operating assets for shipping companies. And yet investors remain attracted to the sector as shippers often sell or replace aging vessels. And despite the rally in shipping stocks, they believe the elevated ship valuations, are not being accurately reflected in the share prices. Earlier this month, Iino Kaiun Kaisha Ltd. (TYO: 9119) said it expects to book a ¥6.9 billion gain from the sale of a large crude tanker in the next fiscal year—equivalent to nearly half of its projected net income for the current year. The company cited more effective use of management resources and improvement of capital efficiency as reasons for the deal. “For companies with extremely low capital efficiency, unrealized gains on vessels can serve as a point of entry for activist investors,” said Daisuke Uchiyama, senior strategist at Okasan Securities Co., adding that the highly fragmented industry is ripe for consolidation.

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3/22/2026

Elliott Builds Big Stake in Chip-Design Software Maker Synopsys

Wall Street Journal (03/22/26) Thomas, Lauren

Elliott Investment Management has a multibillion-dollar investment in Synopsys (NASDAQ: SNPS), the big chip-design software maker, according to people familiar with the matter. Elliott plans to engage with Synopsys to push the business to make more money from its software and services, the people said. Synopsys, based in California, has a market value of over $80 billion. The company’s software and services are used to design electronic components for modern chips and help semiconductor, technology and artificial-intelligence companies ensure their hardware will work as intended. “Synopsys is essential to the global chip industry,” Elliott Managing Partner Jesse Cohn told The Wall Street Journal. “As AI drives a step change in chip complexity and capital investment, Synopsys is uniquely positioned to benefit from this growth.” Cohn said Elliott believes there is a “clear opportunity for Synopsys’ financial performance to more fully reflect the value it delivers.” Cohn said the firm looks forward to engaging with the company, “to help align operational execution, profitability and monetization with its potential and importance to the semiconductor ecosystem.” Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), a Synopsys customer, late last year said it bought $2 billion of the company’s stock. Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said at an industry event earlier this month that the current AI boom should give Synopsys a boost. “The number of Synopsys’ tool users [is] gonna go through the roof,” he said. Commenting on Elliott’s stake, Synopys said that it regularly engages with its shareholders and values their input. It said that following its $35 billion deal in 2024 to acquire Ansys, “our opportunity and our product road map have never been stronger.” A global semiconductor arms race is under way as major technology companies pour resources into designing AI chips. Global chip sales hit a record $792 billion last year and are expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2026, according to data from the Semiconductor Industry Association. Synopsys’s deal for Ansys was intended to help it target more industries and address the rising complexity in chipmaking. Big semiconductor companies such as Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) and Arm (NASDAQ: ARM) have been able to capture more value and raise prices thanks to the uptick in activity. The momentum has been reflected in their rising stock prices. But Synopsys has recently lagged behind both the broader semiconductor index and Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ: CDNS), its closest rival. Synopsys’s shares are down more than 6% over the past 12 months, while the semiconductor index is up around 71%, and Cadence’s stock is up about 8% over the same period. Elliott sees room for Synopsys to boost sales and improve margins to be more in line with those of Cadence, the people familiar with the matter said. Citigroup (NYSE: C) research analysts who met with Synopsys’s management team said in a note to clients this month that the company acknowledged its industry historically has been “under-monetized” despite its software being so crucial. Elliott, which manages around $80 billion in assets, previously took positions in the two big semiconductor companies Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) and Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK), the two top-performing stocks in the S&P 500 index last year.

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3/20/2026

Trian Opposes Victory's Sweetened Rival Bid for Janus Henderson

Reuters (03/20/26) Biswas, Pritam

Trian Fund Management on Friday said it has serious concerns about Victory Capital's sweetened offer for Janus Henderson (JHG.N) that rivals its own take-private deal with the asset manager. Janus had previously rejected an $8.6 billion cash-and-stock offer from Victory, saying the bid carried closing risk and was not superior to the existing $7.4 billion all-cash deal with Trian and venture ?capital firm General Catalyst. But Victory revised its offer earlier in the week to include a higher cash component. Janus Henderson declined to comment. Victory Capital did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Trian is Janus' largest shareholder with a 20.7% stake.

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3/20/2026

Move Over Sony? Oasis Management Company Who Urged Nintendo to Charge 99 Cents Just to Get Mario to Jump Higher Acquires Significant Stake in Parent Company of Elden Ring Dev FromSoftware

IGN (03/20/26) Townsend, Verity

Oasis Management Company has acquired a 8.86% in Japanese media powerhouse Kadokawa (9468.T), parent company of Elden Ring developer FromSoftware, according to Gamebiz and Automaton. This is a big enough stake to potentially enable the investor to influence Kadokawa’s operations. Back in 2014, Oasis encouraged Nintendo (7974.T) to pivot towards developing free-to-play mobile games, saying: “Just think of paying 99 cents just to get Mario to jump a little higher.” So what’s the attraction of Kadokawa? The Kadokawa Group contains a large number of subsidiaries dealing with publishing, anime, movies and games (plus other industries). These include Dark Souls and Elden Ring developer FromSoftware, as well as videogame publisher Spike Chunsoft, which is owned by its Dwango subsidiary. It’s also a major manga publisher, and popular anime produced by Kadokawa include Oshi no ko, Re: Zero, and Delicious in Dungeon, among many others. With so many IPs and diverse businesses, Kadokawa is a hot property. Back in late 2024, it was widely rumored that Sony (NYSE: SONY) would acquire Kadokawa. What ended up happening instead was that Sony became one of Kadokawa’s biggest shareholders, with a 10% stake. The two companies also entered a strategic partnership with the aim of strengthening the global value of both companies’ IPs (think anime co-productions and using Sony’s well-established international publishing channels to bring Kadokawa’s works to a wider audience). To put things into perspective, Oasis Management Company’s 8.86% stake in Kadokawa is not that much smaller than Sony’s. (As of March 2025, Kadokawa’s top three shareholders, including Sony, each had a 10% stake.) Oasis has yet to make any public demands to Kadokawa, so it is not currently clear how they may seek to influence the Japanese conglomerate. However, Oasis’s past moves have included attempts to sway Nintendo. Back in 2014, Oasis published an open letter to then Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, urging the Japanese company to enter the mobile games market and to focus on that instead of consoles. Using Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and other companies' success as examples, the letter argued that accessibility was key, suggesting Nintendo sell mobile games featuring popular IPs like Mario and Zelda on Google Play and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) App store, instead of having their games behind the hurdle of purchasing a console. Oasis then suggested that Nintendo should release free-to-play mobile games with in-game purchases, with chief investment officer Seth Fischer issuing the immortal line: "We believe Nintendo can create very profitable games based on in-game revenue models with the right development team. Just think of paying 99 cents just to get Mario to jump a little higher." After this letter, Nintendo continued to develop consoles, releasing the highly successful Nintendo Switch and its successor, the Switch 2. However, it also entered the realm of smartphone offerings (although whether this had anything to do with Oasis's suggestions in 2013 and 2014 is unclear). Nintendo and The Pokémon Company released the global hit Pokémon Go in 2016, with Super Mario Run also hitting mobile platforms in the same year. Last month, it was reported that Bluepoint, the studio behind the successful Shadow of the Colossus and Demon's Souls remakes, pitched a Bloodborne remake last year that was rejected not by Sony, as many had thought, but by FromSoftware. FromSoftware is currently working on The Duskbloods, a similarly vampire-themed game exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2, and continues to update multiplayer game Elden Ring: Nightreign.

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3/20/2026

Medifast Reaches Cooperation Agreement With Steamboat Capital Partners

TipRanks (03/20/26)

On March 19, 2026, Medifast Inc. (NYSE: MED) entered into a cooperation agreement with Steamboat Capital Partners, which holds more than 5% of its shares, to reshape its board over the 2026 and 2027 annual meetings. Under the deal, Medifast will nominate Steamboat executives Parsa Kiai and Jeff Rose as independent director candidates at the 2026 shareholder meeting, while incumbent directors Jeffrey Brown and Michael Hoer will not stand for reelection. The agreement also provides that Kiai and Rose will be nominated again as Steamboat designees at the 2027 meeting, with Steamboat allowed to recommend substitutes if needed, and subjects Steamboat to customary standstill and voting commitments through three months after the 2027 meeting. Announced publicly on March 20, 2026, the pact signals a constructive settlement with an investor aimed at strengthening governance, supporting Medifast's strategic pivot toward metabolic health, and accelerating efforts to restore profitability and unlock long-term shareholder value.

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3/20/2026

JANA Partners Pushes Sale of Kings Island, Cedar Point Owner

Cincinnati Enquirer (03/20/26) Murphy, Chad

JANA Partners, who bought a stake in theme park operator Six Flags along with NFL star Travis Kelce, is pushing for the company that owns Cedar Point and Kings Island in Ohio to explore a sale. JANA Partners, which bought a 9% stake in Six Flags in October 2025, is also demanding Six Flags appoint a new head of its board of directors, according to a letter obtained by Reuters. It's not a new tactic for JANA, which has a history of activist investments. In 2017, the company took an 8.8% stake in Whole Foods Markets and pushed for board and operational improvements. JANA profited when Whole Foods sold to Amazon later that year, GuruFocus, via Yahoo Finance, reported. And in 2014, JANA bought a 10% stake in PetSmart and pushed for a sale. PetSmart was later acquired by BC Partners for $8.7 billion, also earning Jana a profit. In its letter, JANA suggests Six Flags could be an attractive acquisition option and cites concerns about the board's ability to "deliver" for shareholders, per Reuters. "It is now in the best interest of shareholders for the company to reverse course and engage with known buyer interest in Six Flags," JANA Managing Partner Scott Ostfeld wrote. JANA suggested new leadership was needed on the board of directors. Reuters reports that Marilyn Spiegel was named chair in January and has been a director since 2023. Shares of Six Flags had been down about 50% prior to JANA's investment amid a drop in attendance in 2025, but they rose about 18% following it. Kelce, tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs and former Cincinnati Bearcats player, joined with JANA in its Six Flags stake and was recently named a brand ambassador. "I am a lifelong Six Flags fan and grew up going to these parks with my family and friends," The Cleveland Heights native and fiance? of Taylor Swift said in an October 2025 statement. "The chance to help make Six Flags special for the next generation is one I couldn't pass up." Six Flags says that as brand ambassador, Kelce will bring "his signature hype, humor, and larger-than-life personality to parks across North America." Earlier in March 2026, Six Flags announced it was selling seven of its parks to EPR properties, including: Schlitterbahn Waterpark Galveston in Galveston, Texas; Six Flags Great Escape in Queensbury, New York; Six Flags La Ronde in Montreal; Six Flags St. Louis in St. Louis; Valleyfair in Minneapolis; and Worlds of Fun in Kansas City. Six Flags America and Hurricane Harbor in Maryland closed at the end of the 2025 season. Six Flags California's Great America is scheduled to close at the end of the 2027 season, though that timeline could change, according to USA TODAY. It was originally scheduled to shut down in 2033 by then-owner Cedar Fair. Ohio's two largest theme parks joined a much larger family in 2024 when Cedar Fair, their owner at the time, merged with Six Flags to form the new Six Flags Entertainment Corporation. The new company, worth an estimated $8 billion at the time, has 42 theme parks, water parks, and resort properties across the United States., as well as Canada and Mexico, including Cedar Point and Kings Island.

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