Dan Loeb’s Third Point weighs ‘strategic options’ after pressure from activist investors
Hedge fund Third Point investment trust has identified “a number of credible strategic options” to boost its share price following a strategic review led by activist investors.
In April, the trust appointed a duo of activist investors to its board to try and fix the persistent gap between its share price and value of its underlying assets.
The strategy review committee consisted of activist investors Dimitri Goulandris and Liad Meidar, alongside existing director Richard Boléat, and explored a range of options for the trust including mergers to changing investment strategy.
In an announcement today, Third Point said one strategic option is being worked on “expeditiously” and an assessment of its chances of success will be completed over the first quarter of next year. It did not say which strategy was being considered.
The trust’s share price currently sits on a 24 per cent discount to the value of its underlying assets, which has increased from the 18 per cent gap it was struggling to overcome when the strategic review was launched in April.
Despite the significant gap, performance has been strong at the hedge fund, with net asset value rising 26.9 per cent since the start of the year and its share price jumping 25.5 per cent.
“A further update on the strategy review will be provided in early April 2025,” said Third Point’s board today. “It is expected that any recommended proposals will subsequently be put to shareholders and voted on by them as appropriate.”
The hedge fund has a troubled history with activist investors pressuring it to make changes. Third Point boss Dan Loeb describing them as a “stain” in 2021.
Chair of Third Point Steve Bates stepped down from the company that year, claiming that he had received personal threats from activist investors.
At the time, Loeb said activist investors’ “juvenile antics smack of desperation and inexperience”.