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Dan Loeb to nominate three directors to Sotheby's board

February 27, 2014 at 06:42 pm

MarketScreener.com By

Dan Loeb to nominate three directors to Sotheby's board

(Reuters) - Activist investor Daniel Loeb said on Thursday he would nominate himself and two others to the board of Sotheby's Inc, piling pressure on the auctioneer to focus more on its competitive position and management.

Loeb, whose fund Third Point LLC is the biggest investor in Sotheby's with a 9.53 percent stake, has been pressuring the company since October to remove its chief executive and become more competitive against main rival Christie's.

Sotheby's said it had engaged in extensive talks with Third Point over the past months to avoid a proxy battle and had offered to appoint Loeb to its board.

"Sotheby's is disappointed that Third Point has chosen this path," the company said.

In a letter to Chief Executive William Ruprecht in October, Loeb called the auction house "an old master painting in desperate need of restoration."

Investment firm Marcato Capital Management, which holds a 6.7 percent stake in Sotheby's, has also been pushing the company to make changes and return $1 billion to shareholders.

Sotheby's, responding to the shareholders, said in January it would return $450 million to investors through a special dividend and a share buyback.

The company said it would also separate the capital structures of its auction and private sales business from that of its financial services business.

Loeb, in a regulatory filing on Thursday, commended Sotheby's capital return but said "much remains to be done to enhance the company's competitive position." (http://r.reuters.com/tyb37v)

In a bid to provide "new perspectives" and "different expertise" to move the company forward, Third Point said it would nominate Harry Wilson, Olivier Reza and Loeb for election at the company's 2014 annual meeting.

Harry Wilson is chairman and chief executive of boutique restructuring firm MAEVA Group LLC and was previously a senior adviser to the U.S. Treasury Department, Third Point said.

Olivier Reza is the lead designer and head of the House of Alexandre Reza, a luxury jeweler based in Paris.

Sotheby's shares were down 0.6 percent at $50.19 in midday trading. They touched a year high of $51.16 earlier in the session.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)

Stocks mentioned in the article

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Daniel Loeb

Daniel Seth Loeb (born December 18, 1961) is the founder and chief executive of Third Point LLC, a New York-based hedge fund with $12.9 billion in assets.

Biography
Loeb was raised in a Jewish family in the Los Angeles area, one of three children of Ronald and Clare Spark Loeb. His father was a partner at the Los Angeles law firm of Irell & Manella LLP and general counsel for Williams-Sonoma. His mother is a historian. Loeb’s great-aunt, Ruth Handler, created the Barbie doll and co-founded Mattel Inc.

According to Bloomberg Markets Magazine, Loeb grew up in Santa Monica Canyon in California, and attended Palisades Charter High School, commonly known as 'Pali High' in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. Later, he attended University of California at Berkeley for two years before subsequently graduating from Columbia University with a degree in Economics.

Prior to founding Third Point in 1995, Loeb worked at Citicorp and Warburg Pincus.

He is also a founding Master Player of the Portfolios with Purpose virtual stock trading contest.

Opinions

Loeb is well known in the financial world for writing public letters, in which he expresses disapproval of the performance and conduct of other financial executives. Supporters contend his letter writing is effective shareholder activism; critics counter that his letters are distracting for executives and uncomfortable for investors. Less than 10% of Third Point's total assets under management goes to shareholder activism.

Loeb has argued that the United States government is undergoing a 'crisis of leadership'; in his opinion, the administration of President Barack Obama is committed to 'redistribution rather than growth'.

In 2013, Loeb was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.

Source @ Wikipedia

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Linked companies
Third Point Ventures LLC Third Point Ventures LLC Investment ManagersFinance Third Point Ventures LLC is a venture capital firm, a subsidiary of Third Point LLC founded in 1995 by Daniel Seth Loeb. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.	Chief Executive Officer
Third Point LLC Third Point LLC Investment ManagersFinance Third Point LLC is a SEC-registered investment adviser and hedge fund manager headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1995 by Daniel S. Loeb and is a subsidiary of Third Point LP. Third Point provides discretionary investment advisory services to a variety of domestic and offshore private investment vehicles, single private equity-style fund and a separately-managed institutional account.	Chief Executive Officer

Linked companies