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Elliott Disrupts CEOs’ Summer Plans With $400 Billion in New Targets

Crystal Tse
·2-min read

(Bloomberg) -- Executives hoping for a quiet summer have found a wrench thrown in their plans: Elliott Investment Management isn’t planning on letting them rest.

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Elliott, the activist hedge fund founded by billionaire Paul Singer, has unveiled seven new stakes in companies around the world since April, targeting corporations with a combined market value of more than $400 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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Its latest mark, announced Monday, is $18 billion US carrier Southwest Airlines Co. Elliott wants the company to refresh its boardroom, change up management and conduct a comprehensive business review, according to a letter to the board. The firm has an economic stake of almost $2 billion, or about 11% of the airline.

The position adds to stakes that Elliott has unveiled since April in Softbank Group Corp., Texas Instruments Inc., Johnson Controls International Plc, Sensata Technologies Holding Plc, Sumitomo Corp. and Anglo American Plc. While the firm launched a similar number of campaigns last year, the targets were much smaller companies and less money would have been needed to build a significant stake in each.

Elliott has spent the last year gathering billions of dollars in landmark capital raisings and announcing a rare expansion of its top ranks, leaving it with about $66 billion in assets under management with which to pursue companies. The firm’s activist campaigns rarely make it all the way to a full proxy fight and shareholder vote, data compiled by Bloomberg show, with companies sometimes settling just days after a position is announced.

The stake in Sensata was only made public when Elliott and the company had already reached a pact that resulted in the departure of the chief executive officer. Five other companies that Elliott has targeted in the past two years have also gone on to switch up their CEOs.

Elliott last publicly nominated for board representation in 2023 at drug manufacturer Catalent Inc., but the fight never made it to a vote; independent members including Elliott’s global head of engagement Steven Barg were added to the board, and the activist investor withdrew its nomination.

Elliott’s latest positions stick to its usual geographical reach, targeting companies in the US, UK and Japan. The firm’s $2 billion stake in Softbank is its second tilt at the Japanese investment firm, which it is urging to launch a $15 billion buyback.

A representative for Elliott declined to comment.

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