When Activists Go After Large Companies Like Dow

Industrials

Published: January 21, 2014 1:52 pm

Investor activism has taken on a different path in the last eighteen months or so. Large companies are no longer off limits, and activists have been able to make changes at companies which used to be too large to sway. The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) is finding this out and shares are rising as a result.

Third point LLC, managed by the well known activist hedge fund investor Dan Loeb, has taken a stake in the chemicals giant. Loeb is pressing for Dow to fully separate its petrochemicals business from its specialty chemicals business. Loeb believes that running these as one group has made the businesses underperform.

Where this gets interesting is that Dow Chemical already announced in late 2013 that it would be jettisoning the lower-margin performance chemicals business. Loeb’s proposal would be more demanding than what the company is planning now.

Loeb’s stake was reportedly put at about $1.3 billion, versus Dow’s market cap of $55 billion after the gain. CNBC also showed an overlap video on Tuesday morning from the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Dow shares are up in excess of 6% at $45.77 and the stock hit a 52-week high of $46.70 earlier on Tuesday. It seems as though no company is untouchable any longer.

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