Reuters / Richard Brian
- Boaz Weinstein, Bill Ackman, and Marc Lasry have submitted a joint offer for Sculptor Capital, the WSJ reported.
- The billionaire investors have made the bid at over $12 per share, according to the report.
- But it could get rejected - after Sculptor suggested the latest proposal it received has fallen short of expectations.
Boaz Weinstein, Bill Ackman and Marc Lasry have joined forces to make an offer to buy New York-based alternative asset manager Sculptor Capital - but the bid could get rejected.
The billionaire investors submitted their bid worth over $12 a share on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported. This is an improved offer from the trio, after an earlier one got spurned, the outlet said.
However, the renewed submission also appears to be at risk of getting rejected after Sculptor Capital said in a press release on Monday, without identifying the bidders, that a new proposal it received fell short of expectations.
"We have received an unsolicited proposal from a third party that had participated in the strategic alternatives process. This bidder has not demonstrated adequate committed funding for any of its bids," the firm said in the release.
Sculptor has already agreed to be taken over by another company, real-estate investment firm Rithm Capital, in a deal that values the struggling hedge fund at around $11.15 per share. On Friday, the shares closed at $11.20 each.
"Though this latest bid's headline valuation is higher than the Rithm transaction, this proposal only includes committed financing for less than half of the amount required to consummate the transaction and underestimates the amount that would be necessary by several hundred million dollars," Sculptor said in the statement.
"Accordingly, in light of the foregoing and other issues with the proposal, the Special Committee has not determined that the bid is, or is reasonably expected to lead to, a Superior Proposal (as defined in the Company's merger agreement with Rithm)," it added.
Sculptor is the largest publicly-traded hedge fund with $34 billion of assets under management. It has faced controversy over the past decade stemming from the fallout from accusations of bribing government officials across several countries in Africa. In 2016, the firm had to pay $412 million in penalties.
Weinstein is most famous for profiting off the 'London Whale' trading scandal that engulfed JPMorgan in 2012. Ackman, whose investment strategy is that of a shareholder activist, runs Pershing Square Capital Management. And Lasry, who runs Avenue Capital Group, is best known for owning the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks basketball team for nine years.