Alliance Trust announced it has reached a settlement with Paul Singer’s Elliott Advisors, its largest shareholder. Under the deal, the hedge fund firm agreed to withdraw three resolutions slated for the April 29 annual meeting. In return, Alliance Trust said it would appoint two independent directors to its board. Elliott also said it would not call a general meeting or “seek to agitate against” the company, its board or management publicly until after the company’s 2016 annual meeting, according to the press release. We noted earlier that Elliott was unhappy with the Dundee (U.K.) investment manager’s governance and was seeking shareholder support for three independent non-executive directors. “Recent public comments by a former director of the company about the lack of open debate in the board room has strengthened our view that added independence and a fresh perspective is needed to improve Alliance Trust,” Elliott said in a statement in late March, according to Reuters.
___
MKP Capital Management held its final close for a new commercial real estate fund. The firm is also said to be in discussions for a second fund. The New York firm declined to comment. MKP currently manages about $8.5 billion in global macro, credit and commercial real-estate strategies. MKP is said to be bullish on subordinated commercial real-estate debt, citing the likelihood for continued U.S. economic growth, continued improvement in commercial real-estate fundamentals, a regulatory disruption affecting traditional lenders and investors and an expected $1 trillion in U.S. commercial real-estate financing in the next few years.
___
Shares of hedge fund favorite Twitter plummeted more than 18 percent Tuesday after it reported mixed results for the most recent quarter. Twitter seems to have beaten forecasts for earnings but missed revenue projections. More importantly, the company reduced its guidance for future revenues. One silver lining: The stock rebounded by 2 percent in after-hours trading. The stock is among the top-five holdings of a number of hedge funds, including Daniel Benton’s Rye Brook, New York-based Andor Capital Management and JAT Capital Management, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based Tiger Grandcub headed by John Thaler.
