October 19, 2020 BARRON’S M7
INSIDE SCOOP
LeviStrauss’Largest
ShareholderSellsShares
after converting an equal number of
supervoting Class B shares, which
don’t trade publicly. Haas now owns
39 million Class B shares in a personal
account, and an additional six million
Class B shares through a trust, accord-
ing to a form that she filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
Each Class B share carries 10 votes,
while the publicly traded shares each
carry one vote; each Class B share is
convertible into publicly traded shares
at the option of the holder.
Levi Strauss didn’t make Haas
available for comment.
Levis Strauss Chief Financial Officer
Harmit Singh said that management
was “going to run this company for the
long term.” Third-quarter earnings,
reported earlier this month, were
strong. Morgan Stanley upgraded the
company to Overweight from Equal
Weight this week, and lifted the price
target to $22 from $18.B
Mimi Haas, a
member of the
family of founder
Levi Strauss, just
sold nearly $8
million of shares
ofthe maker
of iconic denim
apparel.
675,536 Cryoport common shares
in conjunction with a private place-
ment of Cryoport preferred securi-
ties with Blackstonethat closed on
Aug. 24. Blackstone paid $37 per
common share, and now holds a
15.6% stake in Cryoport.
SpringWorks
Therapeutics(SWTX)
OrbiMed Advisorsdisclosed
a stake in the newly public bio-
pharmaceutical firm of 7,406,307
shares. SpringWorks debuted pub-
licly in late September through an
initial public offering that priced
shares at $18, followed with a sec-
ondary offering that closed on Oct.
13 with shares priced at $51 each.
OrbiMed bought 275,000 Spring-
Works shares through the IPO,
and the remainder of its position
is from the conversion of pre-IPO
preferred securities into Spring-
Works common stock. OrbiMed
holds 15.5% of SpringWorks’
tradable stock.
Increases in
Holdings
Rosetta Stone(RST)
Gamco Investors(GBL) lifted its
interest in the language-education
company to 1,789,901 shares.
Gamco added 270,823 Rosetta
Stone shares to its position from
Sept. 25 through Oct. 7 at prices
ranging from $29.89 to $29.93
apiece. No reason was given for the
fresh investment that now gives
Gamco a 7.3% stake in Rosetta
Stone. However, at the end of Au-
gust, Rosetta Stone announced that
it agreed to be acquired by digital-
learning company Cambium Learn-
ing Group for approximately $792
million in cash, equal to $30 per
Rosetta Stone share.
Perspecta(PRSP)
Jana Partnersdisclosed a higher
stake in the government IT-services
firm of 13,853,914 shares. Jana
added 1,965,047 Perspecta shares
at prices ranging from $18.96 to
$20.03 each from Sept. 11 through
Oct. 14. Jana provided no reason
for the latest investment, which lifts
its interest in Perspecta to 8.6%.
BanksSay
MoreM&AIs
OntheWay
POWER PLAY
L
evi Straussstock has
sagged thus far in 2020, and
the company’s largest share-
holder, Miriam “Mimi”
Haas, sold a large block
of shares. Haas is a member
of company founder Levi
Strauss’ family by marriage, and her
husband, Peter, was a longtime CEO
of the company.
The maker of the iconic denim ap-
parel saw a March 2019 initial public
offering with shares priced at $17
each. Levi Strauss (ticker: LEVI) stock
is a little worse for the wear in 2020,
and shares have lost about a fifth of
their market value, and now trade
below the IPO price.
Haas sold 500,000 Levi Strauss
shares from Oct. 9 through Oct. 13 for
a total of $7.8 million, a per share aver-
age of $15.60 each. She sold shares
By ED LIN
I
f you’re looking for a preview of
2021 mergers-and-acquisition
activity, just take a look at the
third-quarter earnings reports
from the big banks this past week.
Pure-play investment banks
Morgan Stanley(ticker: MS) and
Goldman Sachs Group(GS) blew
past estimates. But advisory fees
were rare blemishes, as fewer
closed transactions caused revenue
to plunge, executives said on earn-
ings calls. Goldman saw a drop of
27% in advisory revenue, while
Morgan Stanley’s was off by 35%.
The slowdown in completed
transactions isn’t surprising, given
that M&A activity was derailed by
the economic lockdowns earlier in
the year. New-deal announcements
slowed to a trickle, and previously
announced deals came under pres-
sure or ultimately were scrapped.
Recent activity has not yet
reached prepandemic levels, but it
is coming back as CEO confidence
improved over the past quarter.
And months of stalled economic
activity has businesses thinking
about how they can operate more
efficiently—and that may mean
teaming up with another business.
Goldman’s deal volume was up
fivefold in the third quarter from
the preceding quarter, management
said, adding that it’s “optimistic”
for deals across most sectors,
including tech, media, and finance.
But even bullish bankers ac-
knowledge that deal completion is
subject to the path of economic
recovery and the pandemic.
“I would say that you’ve got to
be flexible,” said Goldman Sachs
CEO David Solomon on the com-
pany’s conference call. “But at the
moment, activity levels appear
quite good.”
With that in mind, get ready for
banks to play matchmaker.B
By CARLETON ENGLISH
Activist Holdings
W.R. Grace(GRA)
40 North Managementrevealed
a 14.9% interest in the specialty
chemical and materials firm, equal
to 9,865,008 shares. 40 North’s
representative Kathleen Reiland
resigned from W.R. Grace’s board
on Oct. 13. Since 40 North will no
longer serve on the board, a previ-
ous letter agreement with W.R.
Grace will cease after Oct. 28, and a
40 North replacement will not have
to be named. 40 North attached a
copy of a letter addressed to W.R.
Grace’s board that said its beliefs
“on how to address Grace’s perfor-
mance are not shared by this board,
in particular [40 North’s] views with
regard to [W.R. Grace’s] current stra-
tegic directions.” 40 North concluded
the letter, noting that it had no confi-
dence that “continued service” would
result in “meaningful change.”
Original Filings
Cryoport(CYRX)
Blackstone Group(BX) reported
an initial interest in the life-sciences
logistics company of 7,149,670 shares.
That figure includes the purchase of
These disclosures are
from 13Ds filed with
the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
13Ds are filed within
10 days of an entity’s
attaining more than
5% in any class of a
company’s securities.
Subsequent changes
in holdings or inten-
tions must be re-
ported in amended
filings. This material is
from Oct. 8 through
Oct. 14, 2020. Source:
InsiderScore.com