Times Online – SAC Capital Advisors, the $10 billion (£5.1 billion) hedge fund run by Steven Cohen, plans to derail Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold’s $25.9 billion takeover of Phelps Dodge, whichit said undervalued the American mining company.
The hedge fund has bought a 5.1 per cent stake in Phelps Dodge and will use it to leverage its opposition to the cash-and-shares deal announced last month, which would create the world’s largest publicly traded copper producer.
SAC is lobbying Phelps Dodge’s investors to reject the agreed offer of $88 per share plus 0.67 Freeport shares, which values the company at just under $130 a share.
Instead, Mr Cohen, a highly secretive billionaire art collector and one of the most powerful men on Wall Street, is seeking to extract about $150 a share for the company.
Mr Cohen is not known for shareholder activism and his involvement with Phelps Dodge is a sign that he may feel the need to be more aggressive in an increasingly competitive investment environment.
In September, he admitted that, in terms of investments, the best days looked to be behind him. “It’s hard to find ideas that aren’t picked over and harder to get real returns,†he said at that time.
