ACTIVISM IN THE ENERGY SECTOR - BLUEBELL PARTNERS SEKISUI HOUSE LUCKIN COFFEE ACTIVIST INSIGHT MONTHLY - Bluebell Capital Partners
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ACTIVISM IN THE ENERGY SECTOR BLUEBELL PARTNERS SEKISUI HOUSE LUCKIN COFFEE ACTIVIST INSIGHT MONTHLY VOLUME 9 ISSUE 3 | APRIL 2020
ACTIVIST INSIGHT ONLINE
BLUEBELL SEASON
AFTER ADVISING SOME OF THE TOP ACTIVIST INVESTORS FOR SIX YEARS, MARCO TARICCO
AND GIUSEPPE BIVONA HAVE LAUNCHED THEIR OWN ACTIVIST FUND ALONGSIDE LUXURY
GOODS EXECUTIVE FRANCESCO TRAPANI, WRITES IURI STRUTA.
BLUEBELL PARTNERS
FOUNDED 2019
HQ LOCATION LONDON, U.K.
ACTIVISM FOCUS PRIMARY
MARCO TARICCO GIUSEPPE BIVONA FRANCESCO TRAPANI
AUM €60 MILLION (MARCH 2020) FOUNDING PARTNER FOUNDING PARTNER FOUNDING PARTNER
The financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may have Bivona and Taricco, who have a background in investment
caught some old hands by surprise. Bluebell Capital Partners, banking, started their legacy advisory business Bluebell
the new fund launched just a few months ago with 50 million Partners in 2014 with the goal of identifying potential targets
euros in startup capital by Marco Taricco, Giuseppe Bivona and for activism and pitching ideas to investors for a fee. Bivona
Francesco Trapani, is fresh enough to have taken advantage. and Taricco’s first campaign was at troubled Italian bank
“At the beginning of February, when COVID-19 was still an Monte dei Paschi di Siena, where they discovered accounting
“
issue confined to China... we shorted three names in the
consumer luxury sector which are most exposed to Asia and
were late in disclosing the impact of the virus on their trading,”
Taricco said in an interview with Activist Insight Monthly over
the phone.
irregularities which resulted in a number of legal proceedings
against the bank’s management. They represented London-
based Alken Asset Management and another large undisclosed
U.S. investor in their lawsuit against the bank. In the
following years, the duo worked with Elliott Management in
its campaigns at Ansaldo STS and Telecom Italia, and Jana
Partners at Tiffany & Co., among others.
“
“THE LAUNCH OF BLUEBELL’S ACTIVIST
While Taricco and Bivona have worked together for a long
FUND IS AN EXTENSION OF TARICCO AND time, Trapani, the former CEO of Bulgari, joined at the launch
BIVONA’S WAGER SIX YEARS AGO THAT of the activist fund. Taricco has known Trapani for more than
ACTIVISM WOULD TAKE OFF IN EUROPE.” two decades, having first worked with him on the initial public
offering of Bulgari in 1995. Bulgari was sold to French luxury
conglomerate LVMH in 2011 and Trapani led the jewelry and
BETTING ON ACTIVISM
The launch of Bluebell’s activist fund is an extension of Taricco
“
watches division of Bernard Arnault’s empire for five years
through 2016 before joining Jana’s campaign at Tiffany’s. He
“
and Bivona’s wager six years ago that activism would take
“BLUEBELL WILL NOT SHY AWAY
off in Europe, as governments began to reduce their stakes
FROM TAKING SHORT POSITIONS
in national champions, founder-led companies diminished
OPPORTUNISTICALLY, BUT TARICCO MAKES
in number, and companies became ever-more shareholder
friendly. Indeed, the number of companies publicly targeted CLEAR THAT THE FUND WILL CHIEFLY
by activists in Europe almost doubled between 2014 and ENGAGE IN LONG ACTIVISM BY ADOPTING
2017 to 160, according to Activist Insight Online, and some of A ‘PRIVATE EQUITY APPROACH TO PUBLIC
the subsequent decline has been attributed to an increasing MARKETS.’”
number of campaigns taking place behind closed doors.
ACTIVIST INSIGHT MONTHLY APRIL 2020 | WWW.ACTIVISTINSIGHT.COM 10
was appointed to the board in a 2017 settlement and served The hedge has been particularly helpful during this period,
until just before the firm’s sale to the same LVMH in 2019. as Lufthansa was forced to ground most of its fleet because
of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a plunge in its stock
“The fact that Francesco has joined us provides skills which price. Since launching the campaign, Bluebell has reversed its
are not only financial but also managerial,” Taricco said. “We position, saying the current environment doesn’t support a
believe we are pretty unique in that sense.” Trapani spends breakup. It’s unrealistic to “pursue it now when the company is
around half his time at Bluebell, while Bivona and Taricco are fighting for its survival,” Taricco said.
full-time.
HIGH AMBITIONS
LONG VIEW
Bluebell’s ambitions are high, with Taricco saying he aims
Bluebell will not shy away from taking short positions to grow the fund well beyond 1 billion euros. Until then, the
opportunistically, but Taricco makes clear that the fund will activist will try to leverage its connections in the activism world
chiefly engage in long activism by adopting a “private equity by seeking co-investors to add more weight to its campaigns.
approach to public markets.” According to a presentation to In addition to Jana and Elliott, Bluebell has worked with Third
prospective investors seen by Activist Insight Monthly, Bluebell Point Partners, although Taricco said the involvement is not
will focus on the mid- and large-cap markets in Europe and run public. Third Point has been quite active on European shores in
a concentrated portfolio of around 12-15 stocks at any given recent years, launching campaigns at EssilorLuxottica, Nestlé,
time. It will invest across all geographies in industries where and, more recently, Prudential.
it has expertise, namely consumer, luxury, industrials and
business services. Bluebell has so far launched five activist campaigns as an
investor, four of which are publicly known. In addition to
Bluebell offers three classes of shares to investors with lockups Lufthansa, Bluebell has been campaigning for a strategic
between one and three years, with the longer lock-up period review of the private labeling business at embattled Swiss
charging smaller fees. The cheapest option has a management asset manager GAM Holding, and a focus on repairing the
fee of 1.2% and a performance fee of 15%. investment management business. Taricco said the discussions
with management are constructive, declining to share more
The fund considers whether to hedge an individual investment details at this stage. At Hugo Boss, Bluebell’s demands for a
case by case. The type and size of the hedge are then the management change were quickly met, with CEO Mark Langer
result of a number of criteria, including the level of conviction announcing plans to resign in September. The new CEO will
and the various risk factors, according to Bluebell. Taricco face an unenviable task as the company has been mauled
illustrates that with the investment in airline Deutsche by the COVID-19 pandemic and pulled its guidance for 2020
Lufthansa. “That is a position that was highly hedged. We revenues and profits. Bluebell is also opposing U.K. operator
asked them to do the sub-IPO of Lufthansa Technik, their Cineworld’s acquisition of Canadian peer Cineplex, although
maintenance and repair unit, but we didn’t want exposure to Taricco said there is much more to the fund’s demands.
the volatility of the airlines sector,” Taricco said.
HUGO BOSS CEO MARK LANGER ANNOUNCED HIS DEPARTURE AFTER BLUEBELL SAID HE WAS
UNSUITABLE TO LEAD THE LUXURY FASHION HOUSE.
ACTIVIST INSIGHT MONTHLY APRIL 2020 | WWW.ACTIVISTINSIGHT.COM 11
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