The influence of activist hedge funds, from Icahn Enterprises to Pershing Square to Third Point, appears to be growing. And not among smaller companies where buying a significant stake means fewer resources are tied up, but among large, Fortune 500 companies.
从Icahn Enterprises公司到潘兴广场资本管理公司，再到对冲基金Third Point，维权对冲基金(activist hedge funds)的影响力似乎在不断增强。而且，受到影响的不是那些通过投入较少资源就能大量持股的小公司，而是《财富》（Fortune）500强榜上有名的大企业。
What’s behind this new muscle-flexing?
这股新力量的背后是什么？

Activist hedge funds have been very, well… active lately, and their actions have had a major effect on the value of companies. The current run of successes has not been due to any one thing but to a nexus of circumstances and events. First, success breeds success, confidence is infectious. Second, there is the apparent lack of readiness among very large companies to deal with hedge funds. Finally, there is a general lack of confidence among the boards and management teams that hedge funds have challenged. All these are leading to activist triumphs.
维权派对冲基金最近非常活跃。他们的行为对相关公司的市值产生了重大影响。这些基金接二连三地获胜不是由于某一个因素，而是多重情境下的共同作用使然。首先，一步为赢，步步为赢，信心具有感染力。其次，许多大型公司显然没有做好对付对冲基金的准备。最后，受到对冲基金挑战的董事会和管理层普遍缺乏自信。所有这些使得维权派成为赢家。
Not only was Icahn Enterprises’ campaign to force eBay to sell PayPal successful, causing the stock price to climb to a six-month high, Icahn’s criticisms of eBay director Marc Andreessen’s lack of independence resulted in him stepping down from the board.
亿万富豪兼激进投资者卡尔o伊坎的Icahn Enterprises公司呼吁购物网站eBay出售支付业务PayPal的行动不仅成功推动eBay股价创下六个月新高，其对eBay董事、著名风险资本投资者马克o安德森缺乏独立性的指责也导致后者辞职。
Daniel Loeb’s Third Point has been running a campaign to shake up auction house Sotheby’s. This led to the announcement of CEO Bill Ruprecht’s resignation and a significant uptick in the company’s stock price. In addition, Loeb has now installed four independent directors on Dow Chemical’s board, cementing the idea that hedge fund influence in U.S. boardrooms is on the rise. To be sure, the immediate increase in Dow’s stock price was short-lived.
丹尼尔o勒布的Third Point对冲基金也在不停挑战苏富比拍卖行（Sotheby’s）。受此影响，苏富比首席执行官比尔o鲁普雷希特宣布辞职，该拍卖行的股价随后急剧上升。另外，勒布为陶氏化学公司（Dow Chemical）安排了四名独立董事，这让人们愈发相信对冲基金对美国公司董事会的影响越来越大。当然，虽然陶氏化学的股价立即上扬，但涨势并不持久。
Pershing Square has also been busy. Bill Ackman’schallenges to Herbalife (he accused it of being a pyramid scheme, which led to a government investigation) has led to a significant income slowdown at the company, much of it due to changes the company has made to its sales strategy to mitigate the pyramid-scheme allegations. Ackman also successfully sued to gain permission to vote his 10% stake in Botox-maker Allergan in support of a takeover of the company by rival drug company Valeant. Allergan had a poison pill in place, an instrument designed to prevent hostile takeovers, but the judge still ruled in Ackman’s favor. In fact, the only way Allergan was able to avoid Ackman’s power was by being taken over by yet another rival pharmaceutical firm, Actavis.
潘兴广场也一直忙个不停。该公司创始人比尔o阿克曼对康宝莱公司（Herbalife）发起的挑战（他指责康宝莱从事传销，从而引发政府调查）造成后者的收入增速显著放缓，这在很大程度上是因为康宝莱为了平息传销指责而调整了销售策略。阿克曼还打赢了官司，被获准使用其在肉毒素注射剂保妥适（Botox）生产商艾尔建公司（Allergan）的10%投票权，来支持后者的商业对手Valeant对其进行收购。虽然制定了用于防止恶意收购的“毒丸计划”，但法官仍判阿克曼胜诉。实际上，能让艾尔建摆脱阿克曼控制的唯一途径就是被另一家对手公司阿特维斯（Actavis）吞并。
Outdoing Pershing Square, hedge fund Starboard Value not only ousted the CEO of Darden Restaurants (the owner of Olive Garden, among other chains), but, last month it replaced the entire 12-person board with its own nominees.
对冲基金Starboard Value比潘兴广场更胜一筹。它不仅把达登连锁餐饮公司（Darden Restaurants，拥有Olive Garden等连锁餐馆）的首席执行官赶下了台，还在上个月用自己提名的人选把达登的12名董事换了个遍。
This is beginning to look like a trend.
这开始看起来像是成为了某种趋势。
A recent survey of directors by consultancy PwC concludes that big companies need to watch out because the activists are about. Directors at over a third of these large companies (over $10 billion in revenues) indicated they had had interactions with activists. By contrast, less than a fifth of smaller companies reported dealings with hedge funds.
普华永道（PwC）最近对公司董事进行的一份调查得出结论称，大公司需要小心维权对冲基金的动向。逾三分之一大公司（收入超过100亿美元）的董事们表示，他们和激进投资者打过交道。而只有少于五分之一的小公司对付过此类对冲基金。
At the largest companies, boards often do not expect the attention of hedge fund activists and are therefore not prepared and don’t know how to react. This lack of confidence has allowed hedge funds to have their way with these companies.
没错，以前有些对冲基金在推动大公司发生变化方面发挥着作用。关系投资者公司（Relational Investors）就成功改变了西方石油公司（Occidental Petroleum）和家得宝（Home Depot）的管理和薪酬政策。然而，这种不断增加的针对顶尖企业的行动以前并不常见，这是一种新动向。以往对冲基金的关注重点是小公司，因为比较容易获得大量股份，从而拥有足以改变这些公司的投票权。现在，这些基金开始利用在小公司获得的成功——很多给它们带来了巨大收益，把资源用于在大公司持有较多股权。
But that’s not all. Boards are crumbling in front of the likes of Loeb and Icahn because the value released by changes they are forcing through is making it more likely that other shareholders will support them. Replace directors? New CEO? Divestments? If it came to a vote, management and existing boards would likely lose the fight, so they capitulate before combat actually begins.
在这些硕大无朋的企业，董事会往往想不到激进的对冲基金会对他们的公司感兴趣，因而陷入毫无准备、不知所措的境地。董事们缺乏信心让对冲基金钻了空子。但问题还不止于此。这些董事会在勒布和伊坎等人面前一败涂地的原因是后者强行带来的改变所产生的价值很有可能获得其他股东的支持。换董事？选新CEO？还是剥离资产？只要一投票，管理层和现任董事们就可能落败，他们因此不战而降。
In most cases, these campaigns benefit all shareholders, so don’t expect the hedge funds to go quiet any time soon.
大多数情况下，维权对冲基金的行动能让全体股东受益，所以别指望他们会很快偃旗息鼓。（财富中文网）