早间简报：阿克曼的潘兴广场瞄准了ADP

这是官方的。比尔克曼的体育rshing Square Capital Management owns 8 percent of ADP, the payroll processing company, mostly through derivatives. The investment was reported earlier in the week by several news outlets. But Friday morning ADP got out ahead of the story, acknowledging the investment in apress release, asserting that the activist hedge fund firm is looking to take control of the company by obtaining five of the company’s ten board seats at its upcoming annual meeting, including one for Ackman.

In the press release, the company said Ackman requested that ADP extend the August 10 deadline for nominating directors by 30 to 45 days, which the company refused to do. Ackman also suggested that chief executive officer Carlos Rodriguez may need to be replaced, according to the company’s announcement.

“ADP is open to constructive input from our shareholders, and our Board respects the right of shareholders to nominate directors,” ADP stated in the press release. “However, ADP has a clearly defined Board nomination process, and the 2017 deadline for director nominations has been public for nearly a year.”

ADP stressed that since Rodriguez became CEO nearly six years ago, ADP has returned 202 percent, way outpacing the 128 percent gain of the Standard & Poor’s 500, including dividends reinvested. “ADP has a strong and independent Board, including four new directors who have joined since 2014,” the company added.

Later in the afternoon Pershing Square put out its ownpress release宣布投资，称ADP是其最大的头寸。该公司还表示，打算在8月7日（星期一）提交一份13D申请。

“Pershing Square has long admired ADP’s business,” it stated in its press release. “Based on extensive research and due diligence, Pershing Square believes that there is an enormous opportunity to improve the operating performance of ADP by accelerating growth, improving the quality of ADP’s software and service offerings, dramatically reducing operating costs, and increasing efficiency.”

据报道，周四潘兴广场的官员应ADP的要求会见了该公司的CEO和董事长。潘兴广场在公告中表示：“在那次会议上，我们重申了延长提名截止日期的要求，并讨论了可能增加几名独立董事和一名潘兴广场董事会代表的问题。”。“我们很失望地从ADP的新闻稿中得知，该公司拒绝了我们延期的请求，而延期本可以促进建设性的讨论。”

Last month wereported潘兴广场正在为潘兴广场六号和潘兴广场六号国际筹集资金，这是一种专门用于投资特定股票的专用工具。潘兴广场当时和周五都拒绝置评。ADP股价周五小幅下跌。但自7月25日以来，涨幅已超过7%。

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Elliott Associates has identified a new activist target, yet another technology company. The multistrategy firm said it owns 6 percent of NXP Semiconductors, a Dutch semiconductor maker, stressing the stock is “significantly undervalued” and is “an attractive investment opportunity.” It owns 4.9 percent of the shares through common stock and the other 1.1 percent in the form of cash settled swaps. Elliott asserts in aregulatory filing“有许多机会实现股东价值最大化”，并已参与或计划与各种利益相关方讨论这些计划，包括管理层、董事会和其他潜在利益相关方。埃利奥特还承认，恩智浦与高通公司有一项380亿美元的并购交易。6月下旬，审查该交易的欧洲监管机构要求提供更多信息，并推迟了10月17日完成审查的最后期限。恩智浦股价周五上涨1.6%，收于112.42美元。

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Keither Meister’s Corvex Management bought nearly one million shares of Energen Corporation, boosting its stake in the oil and gas exploration and production company to 9.8 percent. It paid between roughly $49 and $54 for each of its latest shares. We earlier reported that in June Meister called on the company to put itself up for sale. In late June, Meister said in afilinghe was “very disappointed” that the company announced on June 19 it will “continue with a status quo business plan.” Meister noted the stock’s subsequent decline and said he was “troubled by the failure of the process by which the Board came to its decision.”

He added, “I encourage the Board to embrace this opportunity to course correct and obtain the views of its shareholders in connection with deciding on the future direction of the company. If you fail to take such actions on your own, be assured that…will be resolute in pushing for a meaningful path for all stakeholders to have a direct voice in the plans for the company’s future.” Shares of Energen climbed 3.5 percent, to close at $49.95.

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Arnaud Langlois, who was previously a trader with Millennium Capital Partners, is gearing up to launch his own long-short hedge fund, Terreneuve Capital, according toReuters. 报道援引英国金融行为管理局（Financial Conduct Authority）的文件称，2013年11月至2017年6月，兰洛伊斯曾任千禧资本（Millennium Capital）股票投资组合经理。在此之前，他曾在瑞银奥康纳和布雷万霍华德资产管理公司工作。