Daniel Loeb is flying the white flag.
Loeb's activist hedge fund shop Third Point has dumped its remaining stake in PDL BioPharma, selling more than six million shares of the Fremont, Calif.-based pharmaceutical between Oct. 30 and Nov. 9. Loeb had unsuccessfully sought a board seat, though he said he was “encouraged” by the company’s decision to seek a sale.
But, in a letter to PDL’s board last month explaining why he had halved his firm’s stake to 5.1%, he ripped board chairman and interim CEO Patrick Gage for his “unsuitability” to lead the company—in addition to the board’s “continuing refusal to provide us with a voice in the company’s affairs through a board seat.”
Loeb sold 4.9 million shares in the last three days of last week alone.
But PDL is not out of the activist hedge fund woods: As Third Point sold off its entire stake in the company, Dallas-based Highland Capital Management has built up a 5.2% stake in PDL over the past few months, and is calling for many of the same changes Third Point sought.
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