HedgeCo.Net — Engine Capital LP said Monday it had delivered a letter to the board of EPAM Systems urging either an aggressive share-repurchase program or, failing that, a formal strategic review that could include a sale. The Business Wire release is the primary; Engine owns about 1.5 percent of EPAM’s outstanding common stock. Hedgeweek independently printed the same 1.5 percent stake, the same more-than-40-percent year-to-date share-price decline, and the same dual path of buybacks versus sale process.
Engine managing member Arnaud Ajdler argued EPAM is priced as a “relative loser” versus peers and the broader IT-services space after AI-disruption fears hit the sector. The letter urges the board to use roughly $750 million of cash, future free cash flow, and potential leverage to repurchase shares aggressively—Engine’s math says that path could retire about 60 to 80 percent of shares by the end of 2028—and to strengthen alignment between insiders and shareholders. Engine is also pressing for additional independent directors and a capital-allocation committee.
If the board declines a more aggressive repurchase program, or if buybacks fail to reverse underperformance, Engine wants a formal strategic review overseen by independent directors and an external financial adviser, with a potential sale among the options. Channel NewsAsia’s Reuters-sourced print matches the same $750 million cash line, 60–80 percent repurchase math through 2028, and governance asks. The Business Wire headline frames an immediate ask around a $750 million accelerated share-repurchase program within the broader capital-deployment thesis.
This is an activist letter, not a completed repurchase authorization and not a sale process. Mark 1.5 percent ownership, >40 percent YTD drawdown, ~$750 million cash, and 60–80 percent by end-2028 as Engine’s stated figures. Do not invent board seats won or a launched ASR. The allocator object is a special-situations hedge fund forcing a capital-return-or-exit choice on a public IT-services name trading at a deep year-to-date discount.