February 22, 2021 BARRON’S M7
INSIDE SCOOP
Greenbrier
Chairman and
CEO Bill Furman
purchased $2.2
million of the
rail-car maker’s
stock as it surged
to a record along
with the market.
an affiliate of Silver Lake that was
effective on Dec. 23. Under the con-
tract, Silver Lake subsidiary SLP
Quartz executed two purchases
at the close of Qualtrics Interna-
tional’s initial public offering on
Feb. 1. The first transaction saw
SLP Quartz buy 15,018,484 Qual-
trics shares for $21.64 each; the
second was SLP Quartz buying
7,500,000 shares at the IPO offer-
ing price of $30 each. As a result,
Silver Lake now holds 25.6% of
Qualtrics’ outstanding A shares.
Also pursuant to the purchase
agreement, Silver Lake co-CEO
Egon Durban was named to the
Qualtrics board.
Decreases in
Holdings
Container Store Group
(TCS)
Leonard Green & Partnerscut its
position in the specialty retailer to
15,829,869 shares. Leonard Green
affiliates sold 5,000,000 Container
Store shares on Feb. 10 for $15.15
apiece as part of a secondary offer-
ing of Container Store stock. BofA
Securities is acting as the sole un-
derwriter for shares in the offering,
which in total represents a 9.9%
stake in Container Store. The re-
tailer will not receive any proceeds
from the offering. Outside of the
announcement, no other details
were cited for the divestment,
which leaves Leonard Green and
its affiliates with a 31.2% stake in
the Container Store.
Option Care Health(OPCH)
Madison Dearborn Partners
disclosed a reduced interest in the
provider of infusion-therapy ser-
vices of 97,015,391 shares. Madison
Dearborn sold 17,250,000 Option
Care Health shares through an of-
fering that closed on Feb. 10 that
priced at $18.23 per share. Follow-
ing the sale, Madison Dearborn
remains Option Care Health’s larg-
est shareholder, with a 54% stake.
Madison Dearborn is represented
on Option Care Health’s board by
three partners, including executive
partner Harry Kraemer, who serves
as Option Care Health’s chairman.
POWER PLAY
Greenbrier CEO Bill
Furman Bought Stock
G
reenbrierstock is out-
pacing the market this
year, and longtime CEO
Bill Furman bought
more shares.
Greenbrier stock
(ticker: GBX) has surged
more than 25% so far this year, far
outpacing the S&P 500 index, a mea-
sure of the broader market. It’s a
turnaround from last year, when
shares of the maker of freight rail
cars and marine barges managed a
gain of 12.2%, short of the index’s
16.3% rise.
Furman bought Greenbrier stock
as it set 52-week intraday highs along
with much of the market. He paid $2.2
million over Feb. 9 and Feb. 10 for a
total of 50,000 shares, a per share
price average of $43.57. Furman now
owns 512,518 Greenbrier shares in a
personal account, and 350,045 more
shares through a living trust, accord-
ing to forms he filed with the Securi-
ties and Exchange Commission.
Furman said in a statement, “I
continue to believe Greenbrier stock is
undervalued. My view is informed by
trends in the freight-transportation
equipment market, our strong divi-
dend yield...even as Greenbrier’s stock
value has increased in recent weeks.”
Furman has been CEO since 1994,
and he last purchased Greenbrier
stock in May 2020, when his trust
paid $1.7 million for 100,000 shares.
On Feb. 27, Cowen analyst Matt
Elkott raised estimates on Greenbrier,
and lifted the target price to $50 from
$41. Elkott, who rates the company at
Outperform, wrote in a research note,
“We expect rail car demand to recover
this year, and Greenbrier is well posi-
tioned to be a key participant.” Valua-
tion “remains compelling.”B
BY ED LIN
Carl Icahn
Charges Up
FirstEnergy
B
illionaire investor Carl
Icahn is poised to have
a busy 2021.
On Thursday, Akron,
Ohio–basedFirst-
Energy(ticker: FE)
disclosed that Icahn
notified the utility that he intends
to acquire a stake of $184 million
to $920 million. What he plans to
do with the stake and whether he
already bought shares aren’t clear.
Nevertheless, shares surged
thanks to the activist’s interest.
Reps for Icahn didn’t immediately
respond to requests to comment.
Sophie Karp, analyst at KeyBanc
Capital Markets, wrote in a research
note, “We believe that there are mul-
tiple avenues for FE to close its valu-
ation gap where an activist could
have an impact—up to and including
a sale of the company.”
FirstEnergy stock plunged last
summer after the arrest of Ohio
House Speaker Larry Householder
and four others who were charged
in a federal racketeering conspir-
acy case involving a bailout of nu-
clear plants owned by a former
FirstEnergy subsidiary. Shares
have trailed theUtilities Select
Sector SPDRfund (XLU) over
the past year.
Earlier in the week, FirstEnergy
announced measures the company
is taking to “rebuild trust” with
stakeholders, including launching
an internal investigation that led to
the removal of five executives and
commencing a search for a chief
ethics and compliance officer.
The activist’s interest in First-
Energy comes on the heels of Icahn
taking a stake inBausch Health
(BHC) earlier in the month, claiming
the shares were “undervalued.” He
also slashed his long-held stake in
Herbalife(HLF) earlier this year,
saying an “activist is not needed.”B
BY CARLETON ENGLISH
Activist Holdings
Bausch Health(BHC)
Icahn Capitalreported a fresh
holding of 27,807,410 shares in the
pharmaceutical company, or 7.8%
of the outstanding stock. Icahn
Capital bought 22,774,263 of the
Bausch shares through forward
contracts for $17 apiece. Icahn
Capital revealed that the Bausch
investment was made “in the belief
the shares were undervalued.”
Further, Icahn Capital disclosed
that it wishes to reach out to
Bausch to discuss “ways to enhance
shareholder value, including
[Bausch’s] ongoing strategic review.”
Such engagement may lead to board
representation, though at this time,
Icahn Capital currently doesn’t have
any plans or proposals for a deeper
activist stance.
Original Filings
Qualtrics International(XM)
Silver Lake Groupreported a fresh
interest in the newly public experi-
ence-management firm of 22,518,484
Class A shares. That entire position
resulted from a purchase agreement
between Qualtrics International and
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 Feb. 11 through
Feb. 17, 2021. Source:
InsiderScore.com