Yahoo Finance Elliott Advisors reveals a stake in WS Atkins days after takeover offer accepted
The activist investor Elliott Advisors revealed it has built up a stake in British engineering giant WS Atkins, which has just accepted a takeover offer.
Elliott Advisors, which is the British arm of Paul Singer's US hedge fund Elliott Partners, has a 6.8pc stake in Atkins.
Last Thursday the FTSE 250 company accepted a £2.1bn takeover offer from its Canadian rival SNC-Lavalin, which will see the chief executive step down. It comes months after Atkins snubbed interest from US rival CH2M Hill.
Atkins has been involved in major construction projects such as Crossrail, the new Hinkley Point power station and the Dubai Opera. It makes more than half its revenues in the UK and Europe.
Elliott is considered to be one of the most influential activists in in the UK, and has become particularly active among British companies, campaigning to influence boardrooms.
In recent months, Elliott has used its stake in Dutch chemical firm and Dulux owner AkzoNobel to aggressively pressure it to enter merger talks with its American rival PPG Industries, from which it has fielded three takeover bids.
It has also called for BHP Billiton, in which it has a 4.1pc stake, to end its dual-listing in London and Sydney and for the spin-off of its US petroleum business, which accounted for 30pc of profits in 2016. Elliott said that its plan could boost shareholder returns by around 50pc. The idea was rejected by the mining giant, saying that the costs outweigh the benefits.
Its activism within companies usually takes the form of either lobbying for longer-term change at companies, or “bumpitrage” – pushing for higher offers, a so-called “bump”, in live takeover situations.
Some have argued that this kind of activism could make bidders less likely to engage in deals, while proponents of the tactics say it forces bidders to pay a fair price for the companies they are acquiring, benefiting the shareholders.
Analysts have noted that a counter offer for WS Atkins from a rival could yet emerge, with the last three deals in the sector - for Sweet, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Hyder - resulting in a bidding war.
Elliott Advisors declined to comment on the stake.
