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☆ Activist Impactive sees an opportunity to build value with an ESG tilt at Concentrix
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Business: Concentrix provides technology-infused customer experience (CX) solutions and runs customer service for 2,000 customers globally. They are the second largest outsourced CX company globally and provide CX process optimization, technology innovation, front- and back-office automation, analytics and business transformation services. Activist Commentary: Impactive Capital is an activist hedge fund founded in 2018 by Lauren Taylor Wolfe and Christian Alejandro Asmar. Impactive Capital is an active ESG (AESG) investor that launched with a $250 million investment from CalSTRS and now has almost $3 billion. Concentrix, the second-largest outsourced CX company globally, is a high-quality business.

Persons: Lauren Taylor Wolfe, Christian Alejandro Asmar, Wolfe, Asmar, Impactive, Concentrix, Ken Squire Organizations: CX, Impactive, Concentrix, 13D Locations: Impactive, CalSTRS, Asia, Caribbean, United States

REUTERS/Henry NichollsNEW YORK, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Symphony Technology Group (STG) is nearing a deal to acquire media editing software maker Avid Technology Inc (AVID.O) for close to $1.4 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter. Palo Alto, California-based STG is a mid-market private equity firm focused on technology investments. Earlier this year, STG struck a deal to take Momentive Global Inc, the parent company of SurveyMonkey, private in a $1.5 billion deal. STG currently manages about $10 billion of assets and has invested in more than 50 companies in the technology industry. Reporting by Milana Vinn and Anirban Sen in New York; editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Henry Nicholls, STG, Milana Vinn, Anirban Sen, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: REUTERS, Technology, Avid Technology Inc, Avid, Reuters, Impactive, Momentive, Inc, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, Burlington , Massachusetts, Palo Alto , California, New York

NEW YORK, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Symphony Technology Group (STG) and Francisco Partners are among the private equity firms competing to acquire media editing software maker Avid Technology Inc (AVID.O), according to people familiar with the matter. Avid, Goldman and Francisco Partners declined to comment. Palo Alto-based STG is a mid-market private equity firm focused on technology investments. Francisco Partners is a prolific tech investor, which has raised over $45 billion to date. Earlier this week, Francisco Partners teamed up with TPG Inc (TPG.O) to acquire New Relic (NEWR.N) for $6.5 billion.

Persons: Goldman, STG, Palo, Francisco, Milana Vinn, Anirban Sen, Sharon Singleton, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Symphony Technology, Francisco Partners, Avid Technology Inc, Avid, Goldman Sachs, Reuters, Momentive, Inc, TPG Inc, Impactive, Thomson Locations: Burlington , Massachusetts, Palo Alto, New York

☆ Activist investor Elliott is back at NRG Energy. Here’s how the firm plans to build value
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Activist Commentary: Elliott is a very successful and astute activist investor, particularly in the technology sector. In January 2017, the firm filed a 13D on NRG with a plan centered around operational improvements and portfolio actions. As part of its plan, Elliott suggested that NRG focus on its core businesses by reducing costs, monetizing non-core assets to simplify its portfolio and paying down debt. To effectively oversee this plan, Elliott believes that the board needs new independent directors with expertise in the power and energy industry. "Strong management will be key to the success of the Repower NRG Plan," and "significant changes are needed."

Persons: Elliott, Vivint, Jim Collins, Collins, Ken Squire Organizations: NRG, 13D Locations: COOs, Texas

☆ Impactive takes a stake in Clarivate and sets the tone for activism in the post-SPAC world
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Business: Clarivate is a global information, analytics and workflow solutions company. Activist Commentary: Impactive Capital is an activist hedge fund founded in 2018 by Lauren Taylor Wolfe and Christian Alejandro Asmar. Impactive Capital is an active ESG (AESG) investor that launched with a $250 million investment from CalSTRS and now has over $2.5 billion. Impactive focuses on positive systemic change to help build more competitive, sustainable businesses for the long run. As with many SPAC companies, there were valuation, corporate governance and compensation incentive concerns at Clarivate.

☆ Envestnet names three new directors, ends board fight with Impactive Capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Longtime banking executive Barbara Turner, veteran board member Wendy Lane and Lauren Taylor Wolfe, the co-founder of Impactive Capital, joined the board in the last days. Envestnet, which provides technology and automation software for financial advisors and banks, also said it will suggest that all of its directors stand for election every year. "These appointments were informed by Envestnet's ongoing dialogue with shareholders as we continue to execute on our strategic plan to deliver enhanced value to shareholders," James Fox, Envestnet board chairman, said in a statement. Impactive, founded by veteran investors Taylor Wolfe and Christian Asmar, owns a 7.5% stake in Envestnet and in January nominated four director candidates to the board. Impactive blamed poor profit margins and capital allocation for Envestnet's underperformance and said its management and board directors were overpaid.

☆ Impactive Capital nominates four directors to Envestnet's board
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Anirban Sen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Impactive Capital, which holds a 7.5% stake in Envestnet, nominated two men and two women, including its co-founder Lauren Taylor Wolfe, to Envestnet's board. Impactive Capital said it unveiled the challenge to Envestnet after its attempt to negotiate just one spot on the company's board for Wolfe was unsuccessful. In its statement, Impactive Capital cited poor profit margins and bad capital allocation among the reasons for Envestnet's underperformance. It also said Envestnet's management and board directors were overpaid and that the company should improve its corporate governance by putting all of its directors up for election every year. Impactive Capital, which was founded by Taylor Wolfe and Christian Asmar, oversees $2.7 billion in assets.

☆ Impactive Capital takes an unprecedented step to seek change at Envestnet. This is what could happen next
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Activist Commentary: Impactive Capital is an activist hedge fund founded in 2018 by Lauren Taylor Wolfe and Christian Alejandro Asmar. Impactive wants board representation to get Envestnet to better align pay for performance, refocus on capital allocation and bolster long-term shareholder value. Anyone with any understanding of Impactive, Envestnet's performance and the incumbent board would know that Impactive is sure to get at least one board seat in a proxy fight. Impactive offered one of eight with no incumbent losing a board seat. Squire is also the creator of the AESG™ investment category, an activist investment style focused on improving ESG practices of portfolio companies.

☆ EXCLUSIVE Activist Impactive eyes proxy fight at Envestnet amid sluggish stock price
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Impactive is now ratcheting up the pressure on Envestnet, which provides technology and automation software for financial advisors and banks. In a letter to the board, seen by Reuters, Impactive wrote it sees "no choice but to consider nominating a slate of directors" to help correct a string of failures, including a sluggish share price. Impactive criticized the board for failing to evaluate what the returns would be on the spending. But Envestnet roundly rejected Impactive's earlier suggestions that Wolfe join its board, saying she is "not a good fit." Impactive disagrees and wrote that its record on boards has spanned years and "led to over 30% annualized returns for Impactive."

☆ Carl Icahn snaps up shares of canning giant Crown. Here’s how he may build value
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Business: Crown Holdings is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and sale of packaging products for consumer goods and industrial products. Activist Commentary: Carl Icahn is the grandfather of shareholder activism and a true pioneer of the strategy. The opportunity to create shareholder value here is relatively simple: sell non-core businesses, buy back shares and focus on the pure-play beverage business. The company announced its acquisition of Signode, a transit packaging business, for $3.9 billion in 2017, and might be reluctant to sell it for less than that now. There is more value in how they use those proceeds (i.e., buying back stock in an undervalued, growing business).

☆ ESG without returns is simply not sustainable, says Impactive Capital's Lauren Taylor Wolfe
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailESG without returns is simply not sustainable, says Impactive Capital's Lauren Taylor WolfeImpactive Capital's Lauren Taylor Wolfe joins 'Squawk on the Street' to share the guiding principals behind the firm's ESG investment strategy, which focuses on long-term profitability and growth.

☆ Impactive's Lauren Taylor Wolfe says this misunderstood company is benefiting from the EV trend
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Impactive Capital's Lauren Taylor Wolfe sees value in payments company WEX , saying investors are misjudging its role in the electric vehicle trend. WEX is a payments provider for corporate vehicle fleets. While its shares are outperforming the market with a 1% gain on the year, Impactive's co-founder and managing partner said the company is still undervalued. Wolfe said the market perceives that the current EV acceleration means lower revenue to be generated from WEX's fleet segment, which drives 60% of earnings. Last year, WEX announced a partnership with EV-charging network company ChargePoint to provide integration of EV charging for mixed fleets that include internal combustion engine vehicles.

NEW YORK, Oct 18(Reuters) - Impactive Capital continues to engage with WEX Inc (WEX.N) to bolster the payments company's fortunes, including using depressed valuations across the financial technology space to make beneficial acquisitions, the activist's managing partner said on Tuesday. The firm has been a shareholder since early 2021 of Portland, Maine-based WEX, which provides payments solutions and virtual cards to businesses including travel, fleet and healthcare. "Private and public company market valuations have come back down to earth and many payments companies are in desperate need of cash," Taylor Wolfe said. "We expect companies like WEX to be able to pounce on compelling acquisition opportunities in the coming years." Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by David French and Svea Herbst-Bayliss Editing by Nick ZieminskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Activist ESG investing — the Goldilocks of responsible investing
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-08 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Now, a bear market has exposed these weaknesses, and for the first time, the ESG investing movement has been losing some steam. This drastic reaction to ESG funds does on the right exactly what it is criticizing on the left: It takes an extreme position that exploits the views of the far right to weaponize the opponents of ESG funds just as many ESG funds were created to exploit and weaponize the acolytes of ESG. ESG investing is a term that combines two concepts: ESG and investing. Responsible ESG investing means not just being responsible to environmental, social and governance factors, but being a responsible investor to ESG factors and the goal of attaining outsized capital appreciation. Squire is also the creator of the AESG™ investment category, an activist investment style focused on improving ESG practices of portfolio companies.

☆ There's an ESG backlash inside the executive ranks at top corporations
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Only 25% of CFOs surveyed by CNBC support the SEC's climate disclosure proposal, according to the survey. More than half (55%) of CFOs are opposed to the SEC climate rule, and 35% say they "strongly oppose" it. Proving climate materialityA critical issue for CFOs with the new SEC climate disclosure is the lack of a clear correlation between the climate data and financial statements. The first task for CFOs on climate disclosure, Clayton says, is to be candid with investors and stakeholders about this disconnect. "We are not blanket defenders of ESG," said Martin Whittaker, founding CEO of ESG research nonprofit Just Capital, which releases an influential ranking of top companies on ESG annually.

☆ ESG without returns is 'simply not sustainable,' says investor Lauren Taylor Wolfe
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Pippa Stevens | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

But for Impactive Capital co-founder and managing partner Lauren Taylor Wolfe, it all comes back to financial performance. "We believe that ESG without returns is simply not sustainable," she said Wednesday at CNBC's Delivering Alpha conference. Even if returns aren't the sole focus of an investment vehicle, sustainable investing can still generate alpha for investors. When it comes to applying an ESG lens to public market investing, Impactive Capital's Taylor Wolfe said investors need to be creative around how ESG is used to drive returns. She added that the recent market turmoil could spark a reset of sorts within the sustainable investing landscape.

Lauren Taylor Wolfe co-founded Impactive Capital, an activist investment management firm focused on ESG investing for the long run. We've seen a lot of pushback come from some politicians and I think that's simply too risky. Understanding environmental risks and social risks is simply good fundamental analysis and it's simply good investing. We have too many managers, CEOs and boards focus on hitting their quarterly or annual figures and we believe that there's true opportunity to focus on long term returns, long term IRRs. And I think smart ESG initiatives is simply good business.

☆ The Sharpe Angle: Lauren Taylor Wolfe says pushback against ESG investing is 'simply too risky'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe Sharpe Angle: Lauren Taylor Wolfe says pushback against ESG investing is 'simply too risky'According to Deloitte, global ESG assets under professional management could be worth $80 trillion by 2024. But this growth in popularity combined with a global energy crisis has the sector facing increasing polarization. Critics worry that capital dedicated to ESG investments will further one value system at the expense of others. Lauren Taylor Wolfe co-founded Impactive Capital, an activist investment management firm focused on ESG investing for the long run. She sat down with CNBC's Leslie Picker to share why she thinks bans on ESG investing could be too risky and how understanding environmental, social, and governance risks is ultimately good for businesses.

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