U.S. hedge fund Elliott has taken an activist position in tech company Alcatel-Lucent.
Elliott has a 1.3% stake Alcatel’s €15.6 billion sale to Nokia, reports the Financial Times. Elliott is known to buy into companies that are courting an acquisition, and push for higher offer prices. There likely isn’t an immediate pay out looming for Elliott in the Alcatel-Nokia deal, as the terms of the deal are already settled. But Elliott has waited years in other cases to be paid out for deals that were already signed and sealed.
Elliott has also been getting scrappy with Samsung, trying to undermine a merger of two of company’s subsidiaries, saying it will be “significantly damaging” to investors.
Just two months ago, London hedge fund Odey Asset Management, Alcatel’s second-largest investor, said that Nokia’s proposed terms were “unacceptable.” Alcatel and Nokia have approved the the deal, and hope to close in the first half of 2016.
Photo: Dom Pates via Flickr.