Activist Hedge Funds In the News

Filed in archive Hedgetalk on June 18, 2007

In a HedgeCo story earlier today, two hedge fund shareholders with major stakes in TD ameritrade Holding Corp, JANA Partners LLC and SAC Capital Advisors LLC, today sent a letter to Ameritrade's Board of Directors questioning their recent announcement regarding the exploration of strategic combinations.

The letter states, "TD Ameritrade has poured over $200 million into advertising since the merger with TD Waterhouse and maintains over 100 branches at an estimated annual cost of $75 million, yet has produced little in the way of asset growth. In the 12 months ended March 31, 2007, the number of total customer accounts has grown by less than 3%, and the number of more valuable qualified accounts (those with more than $2,000 in assets) has actually declined."

"Additionally, given the Board's desire to address these matters in full public view, we believe it is all the more important that shareholders have a full and accurate accounting of the Board's actions with respect to possible strategic combinations, so that they may judge for themselves the Board's conduct and whether each director has honored his fiduciary duties."

Jana Partners is a $5 billion dollar activist hedge fund based in San Francisco and SAC Capital Advisors is a group of hedge funds founded by Steven A. Cohen.