The Special Situations Report

Summary:
We’re proud to release this week’s special episode, an interview with our wonderful guest, Paul Nary. Paul Nary is an Assistant Professor of Management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Nary’s expertise is in corporate strategy, especially large M&A transactions, as well as private equity, shareholder activism, and many types of external transaction strategies and investments. Dr. Nary’s work has been published in top strategy journals, including the Strategic Management Journal and Academy of Management Review, and he is frequently quoted in top media outlets, including American Banker, Associated Press, Barron’s, Business Insider, CNBC, Forbes, Fortune, Investment News, NPR’s Marketplace, MarketWatch, and The Wall Street Journal.

Our conversation with Dr. Nary centered around four key topics. We spoke the most extensively about the bidding and sales process for Warner Bros. Discovery, the widening spread on the deal, regulatory risks, and shareholder and management dynamics. We then dived into Irenic Capital's activist plan for SNAP (the parent company behind Snapchat) and the power of a dual-class share structure. We wrapped up the podcast by examining the complex bid Bill Ackman has made for Universal Music Group (UMG) and explored Dr. Nary's research on PE acquisitions and divestitures and how that connects to ongoing PE activity in the software space.

Check out InsideArbitrage here: https://www.insidearbitrage.com/?s1=yt&c=p

You can find Paul at the following locations:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/paulnary
Website: https://www.paulnary.com/

Summary:
In this episode of the Special Situations Report, hosts Asif and Tamanna Suria cover four key stories, including a potential deal for the data protection software company Commvault Systems by Thoma Bravo, a stock buyback announcement by the apparel retailer Lands’ End, a unique insider purchase by the CEO of the health insurance company Oscar Health, and activist involvement in potato products company Lamb Weston.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:20 Thoma Bravo and Other Acquirers Eye Commvault Systems
6:41 Lands’ End Announces a $100M Buyback Following a Tender Offer
11:37 CEO of Oscar Health Buys $12M of Stock Amidst ACA Coverage Concerns
22:10 Starboard Value and JANA Partners Get Involved With Lamb Weston
28:17 Outro

Check out InsideArbitrage here: https://www.insidearbitrage.com/?s1=yt&c=p

Check out The Special Situations Report here: https://www.thespecialsituationreport.com/

Keywords:
M&A, merger arbitrage, bidding wars, shareholder opposition, deals in the works, insider buying, insider sales, buybacks, C-suite transitions, spinoffs, activists, activist campaigns, failed mergers, management transitions, special situations, event-driven investing, markets, stocks

Summary:
In this episode of the Special Situations Report, hosts Asif and Tamanna Suria cover four key stories, including a potential deal by Amazon for a satellite business partially owned by Apple, Eli Lilly’s acquisition of a biotech with a sizeable CVR attached, the planned Reverse Morris Trust transaction at Unilever, and activist involvement at the social media company Snap.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:17 A Potential $9 Billion Deal For Globalstar
8:20 Eli Lilly's Acquisition Of The Sleep Disorder Biotech Centessa
16:41 The $65 Billion Unilever RMT
21:20 An Activist Campaign Launched at Snap
26:48 Outro

Check out InsideArbitrage here: https://www.insidearbitrage.com/?s1=yt&c=p

Check out The Special Situations Report here: https://www.thespecialsituationreport.com/

Keywords:
M&A, merger arbitrage, bidding wars, shareholder opposition, deals in the works, insider buying, insider sales, buybacks, C-suite transitions, spinoffs, activists, activist campaigns, failed mergers, management transitions, special situations, event-driven investing, markets, stocks

We’re proud to release this week’s special episode, an interview with not one, but two wonderful guests: Steven Kiel and Viral Kothari.

Steven Kiel is the President and Chief Investment Officer for Arquitos Capital Management, a firm he founded in 2009. He also serves on the board of directors of ENDI Corp, a holding company primarily focused on asset management. Prior to these roles, Steven served in the Army Reserves for 21 years and also served as a Trial Defense Attorney until his retirement in 2021.

Viral Kothari is a Portfolio Manager at VKKapital, and has previously worked as a Portfolio Manager at companies such as Morgan Stanley and PIMCO. He's also worked across Wall Street in the credit space, equity and commodity option markets, and other trading operations.

Our conversation with Steven and Viral centered around the case for Liquidia, a biotech company embroiled in a legal struggle with United Therapeutics. We covered the commercial stage and Phase 3 drugs that Liquidia currently markets or is developing, the various cases levied by United Therapeutics and Liquidia's chances of success, upside and downside potential for the company depending on how the cases are determined, the broader PAH and PH-ILD addressable markets (the disease space in which Liquidia operates), and so much more. This was an incredibly comprehensive deep dive into a unique legal special situation, and we hope our listeners enjoy this as much as we enjoyed recording it!

Check out InsideArbitrage here: https://www.insidearbitrage.com/?s1=yt&c=p

You can find Steven and Viral at the following locations:

Steven: https://www.arquitos.com/
Viral: https://x.com/CFAs4CFPs

Summary:
We’re proud to release this week’s special episode, an interview with our wonderful guest, Kris Kania. Kris Kania is the Founder & Portfolio Manager of KSK Capital and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Tax Law at NYU School of Law. He previously practiced tax law at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP and earlier worked as a technology investor at Susquehanna Growth Equity.

Our conversation with Kris centered broadly around the topic of private credit, with a specific focus on what’s been happening in the business development company or BDC space. We spoke extensively about specific companies such as Blue Owl and Blackstone, drew comparisons to REITs and the bankruptcy situations with Tricolor and First Brands last year, questioned the presence of software and AI as it relates to these new forms of funding connected to data centers, and more. We learned so much from this discussion, and we hope our listeners will too!

Check out InsideArbitrage here: https://www.insidearbitrage.com/?s1=yt&c=p

You can find Kris at the following locations:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kris-kania/
X/Twitter: https://x.com/LegalFinGuy