CFO.com – In the past week or so, at least three hedge funds have made formal tender offers for three different companies. These three funds, as well as a number of other private investmentpartnerships, have been setting aside assets to pursue private-equity deals and buy other companies outright.
Take the case of ValueAct Capital, which has been trying to buy Acxiom for nearly a year. On Wednesday, ValueAct announced that it will try to buy up to 7 million shares of the direct marketing software supplier at $25 per share in cash if its three director nominees are elected to the company’s board.
The Associated Press pointed out that if ValueAct’s board nominees are elected and its tender offer is accepted, the hedge fund will own about 19.7 percent of Acxiom’s shares. This is the mostamount of stock that ValueAct could own without triggering Acxiom’s poison pill, noted the AP.
Last week, Jana Partners offered to buy Houston Exploration for $62 per share. The $5 billion hedge fund, which had supported Carl Icahn’s campaign against Time Warner, currently owns 12.3 percent of the oil and natural gas producer’s outstanding shares.
