September 28, 2020 BARRON’S M7
INSIDE SCOOP
Broadcom Chairman
Henry Samueli Buys Stock
ship that he controls. He now owns
262,582 Broadcom shares in a per-
sonal account, and another 9.1 million
shares through limited partnerships
and limited-liability companies.
Broadcom didn’t respond to a re-
quest to make Samueli available for
comment on the stock purchase.
The stock buy is his first on the
open market since at least 2003—as
far back as online SEC records reach.
Samueli co-founded Broadcom and
served as its chief technical officer
from its inception in August 1991 to
May 2008, and from December 2009
through January 2016. He has been a
director since 2016, and chairman
since 2018.
After Broadcom reported its fiscal
third quarter, Morgan Stanley ana-
lyst Craig Hettenbach raised his
price target on the shares to $415
from $358, while keeping an Over-
weight rating.B
Broadcom co-
founder and
Chairman Henry
Samueli bought
$36.8 million of
shares of the chip
maker.It’s his first
purchase since at
least 2003.
tures purchases this month that
gave it a 10% interest in GameStop.
The first involved 121,644
GameStop shares bought on Sept.
14 at $6.59 each. The second oc-
curred on Sept. 21, which added
163,030 shares at $8.63 apiece. RC
Ventures, which has had talks with
GameStop, expressed a “willing-
ness to become more involved in
[GameStop] under certain circum-
stances” to “produce the best re-
sults for all shareholders.”
Dave & Buster’s
Entertainment(PLAY)
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
reported an 8.9% interest in the
casual-dining and gaming opera-
tor. KKR’s larger Dave & Buster’s
position resulted from the pur-
chase of 1,500,000 shares from
Sept. 18 through Sept. 22 at prices
ranging from $15.78 to $16.17
apiece. KKR provided no reason
for the fresh investment, which
brings its Dave & Buster’s holdings
to 4,225,800 shares. KKR also
owns derivatives that increase its
economic exposure to 5,571,293
Dave & Buster’s shares, equal to a
11.7% stake.
89bio(ETNB)
RA Capital disclosed a larger posi-
tion in the clinical-stage bio-
pharmaceutical on Sept. 21. RA
Capital purchased 1,300,000
shares of 89bio through a Sept. 17
offering that priced them at $28
apiece. RA Capital’s fresh invest-
ment lifted its stake in 89bio to
4,736,214 shares, equal to 23.8% of
the outstanding stock.
Decreases in
Holdings
Syneos Health(SYNH)
Thomas H. Lee Partners reduced
its holding in the biopharmaceuti-
cal company to 16,010,301 shares.
Thomas H. Lee lowered its Snyeos
Health position through a second-
ary offering of 3,233,719 shares by
its affiliated funds. The offering
closed on Sept. 17 and priced shares
at $59.26 each. Thomas H. Lee now
holds a 15.4% interest in Syneos’
tradable stock.
A Comeback
In Activist
Investing
POWER PLAY
B
roadcom stock has out-
paced the market so far
this year, and co-founder
and Chairman Henry
Samueli scooped up shares
of the chip maker.
Broadcom stock (ticker:
AVGO) has gained 12% year to date
through Friday’s close, topping the 2%
rise in the S&P 500 index.
Fiscal-third-quarter earnings, re-
ported by the company earlier this
month, were strong. Broadcom also
expects wireless-component sales to
rebound later this year.
Samueli paid $36.8 million on Sept.
18 for 101,740 additional Broadcom
shares, a per-share average price of
$361.45. According to a form that
Samueli filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, he made the
purchase through a limited partner-
By ED LIN
A
ctivist investing is slowly
returning in the back half of
the year.
This past week saw high-
profile activist investors reveal new
stakes in companies. Nelson Peltz’s
Trian Partners has a 0.4% stake in
Comcast (ticker: CMCSA), while
Paul Singer’s Elliott Management
partnered with a private-equity
firm to amass a 15% interest in Cu-
bic (CUB), with hopes to take the
defense-and-transportation com-
pany private.
New U.S. activist-campaign ac-
tivity fell 41% in the first half of the
year from 2019, data from Lazard
show. In 2020, companies rushed
to protect themselves with poison
pills and activists held back,fearing
the optics of launching a conten-
tious campaign during a pandemic.
But with the broader market
recovering, expectations are that
activist activity will continue to
pick up. Activists will likely pay
attention to companies whose
stocks have lagged behind peers
during the recovery to see which
could benefit from shareholder
intervention.
There’s no shortage of opportu-
nities. Chris Senyek, chief invest-
ment strategist at Wolfe Research,
recently ran a screen of potential
activist opportunities based on
stock underperformance and de-
clining margins. Consumer-discre-
tionary names, including Booking
Holdings (BKNG) and Extended
Stay America (STAY), accounted
for nearly a third of the candidates.
“Consumer discretionary has
always been ripe for activism be-
cause the businesses are under-
standable,” Senyek told Barron’s.
There may also be “easy money” to
be made for as the economy recov-
ers while the activists work to fix
the business.B
By CARLETON ENGLISH
Original Filings
StepStone Group(STEP)
Argonaut Private Equity revealed
that it owned 6,495,358 shares of
the investment firm. Argonaut’s
StepStone position is tied to an
equal number of Class B partner-
ship units exchangeable for common
StepStone A shares on a one-for-one
basis. StepStone reorganizedfrom a
limited partnership to a corpora-
tion through its Sept. 18 initial
public offering, which brought
new common A shares to market
priced at $18 each. In connection
with the IPO, StepStone pur-
chased 3,830,328 partnership units
directly from Argonaut for the same
$18 price per share. Argonaut now
holds an 18.2% interest in StepStone’s
tradable Class A stock.
Increases in
Holdings
GameStop(GME)
RC Ventures, managed by Chewy
(CHWY) co-founder Ryan Cohen,
revealed an investment in the video-
gaming retailer of 6,500,000 shares.
That figure accounts for two RC Ven-
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 Sept. 17 through
Sept. 23, 2020.
Source: Insider-
Score.com