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For dealmakers (and ex-deal journalists) of a certain age, they’ll remember Lazard creating a “white squire” or white knight fund to help thwart hostile takeovers and corporate raiders in the 1980s, and the brainchild behind that was the legendary financier Lester Pollack and his fund, Corporate Partners.
Now KKR, in a nod to an earlier era, is carving out a strategy of public equities investing by being in the corner of Boards, disclosing a 12% stake in Henry Schein. The medical and dental equipment maker is under attack from Ananym Capital, which has been focused on CEO succession. “This is a role we can play, being a long-term shareholder to a company truly under attack from activists,” Peter Stavros, co-head of Global Private Equity at KKR, told the WSJ. Adding on his LinkedIn, “If you’re a public company and under attack, give us a call.”
KKR has deployed this strategy before in the cases of Pandora v. Corvex and Box v. Starboard. This is an interesting twist in an activist defense; Henry Schein’s stock is up since the announcement, and you would think Ananym is happy though maybe outfoxed. (Or should we say, dexoftuo).
Bon Temps Roulez!
Speaking of the latest trends in M&A and activism, we are five weeks away from Tulane’s Annual Corporate Law Institute on March 6-7, no doubt with fresh oysters, Sazeracs and beignets. Sign up if you have not yet.
GPP is once again polling our readers on how they view the outlook for M&A and activism and topics you want discussed during the M&A and the Media panel. Please take a few minutes to respond and we’ll see you in New Orleans. Last year, readers went out on a limb and said M&A would be up “modestly,” and you were (modestly) right.
Last note: After DeepSeek sent shockwaves through tech markets this week, it’s easy to feel like we’re swimming in a sea of GPTs, LLMs and RLHF. The Information is out with some service journalism to help keep us afloat: A Glossary of AI Jargon for your weekend read.
Have a great weekend,
GPP team
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