Elliott Investment Management L.P. is an American investment management firm and activist investor based in West Palm Beach, Florida. It is one of the largest activist funds in the world.
It is the management affiliate of American hedge funds Elliott Associates L.P. and Elliott International Limited. The Elliott Corporation was founded by Paul Singer, who is co-CEO, president, and co-chief investment officer.
Originally founded in New York City, the firm moved its headquarters to West Palm Beach, Florida in 2020.
Contents
History
Singer created Elliott Associates in January 1977, starting with $1.3 million from friends and family and choosing the brand "Elliott," his middle name. In its earliest years, the firm focused on convertible arbitrage. Since the 1987 stock market crash and early 1990s recession, however, the firm has transitioned into a multi-strategy hedge fund. Elliott Associates manages $8.6 billion and is Elliott Management's primary domestic fund.
The firm is currently closed to new investors. As of mid-2024, Elliott counted 570 employees in New York City, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong and is one of the oldest hedge funds under continuous management. Elliott Investment Management managed $80 billion (US) in assets in 2026.
In a November 2014 investment letter, Elliott described optimism about U.S. growth as unwarranted. "Nobody can predict how long governments can get away with fake growth, fake money, fake jobs, fake financial stability, fake inflation numbers and fake income growth," Elliott wrote. "When confidence is lost, that loss can be severe, sudden and simultaneous across a number of markets and sectors."
In 2015, Institutional Investor/Alpha magazine gave Elliott an A grade and the #9 ranking among hedge funds worldwide.
A 2018 New Yorker profile of Elliott and Singer quoted Jonathan S. Bush, the CEO of an Elliott target company, as saying that when "he began to research Elliott online, the experience was like 'Googling this thing on your arm and it says, "You're going to die."'"
Equity partners
Elliott has seven equity partners. Paul Singer and Jonathan Pollock are co-chief investment officers; Gordon Singer, Paul Singer's son, manages Elliott's London office. Former senior portfolio manager Steven Kasoff, whose retirement was announced in April 2020, was named an equity partner in January 2015. Steve Cohen, Dave Miller, Jesse Cohn and Zion Shohet are also listed as equity partners at the firm, as of November 2020.
Affiliates and units
Hambledon, Inc. is a Cayman Islands corporation controlled by Singer.
NML Capital is a subsidiary of Elliott Management.
Kensington International Ltd. is a subsidiary of Elliott Management.
Maidenhead LLC and Warrington LLC are US entities that are controlled by Singer.
Elliott Advisors (UK) Ltd. is "a London-based advisor to Elliott."
Elliott Advisors (HK) Limited is "the Hong Kong arm of Elliott Management."
Manchester Securities Corporation.
Amber Energy, owner of Citgo
Early activities
Early in its history, Elliott focused on convertible arbitrage, refocusing primarily on distressed debt investing following the 1987 stock market crash and early 1990s recession. Elliott is known for restructuring such U.S. firms as Trans World Airlines, MCI, WorldCom, and Enron as well as overseas companies including Telecom Italia SpA and Elektrim.
Sovereign debt
A portion of Elliott's distressed securities trading has been in sovereign debt.
In 1995, Elliott bought $20 million face value of defaulted Peruvian bank debt. In 1998, after extensive litigation and numerous attempts by Elliott to settle, the court awarded the hedge fund $58 million, including past due interest.
After Argentina defaulted on its sovereign debt in 2002, Elliott, which owned Argentinian bonds with a nominal face value of $630 million now worth $2.3 billion, refused to accept Argentina's offer of less than 30 cents on the dollar. Elliott won judgments against Argentina in U.S. and U.K. courts but did not collect payment. In October 2012, an Elliott subsidiary, NML Capital, arranged for the seizure in Ghana of the ARA Libertad, an Argentinian naval vessel, which it intended to confiscate in accordance with court judgments awarding it over $1.6 billion in Argentinian assets. A November 2012 New York trial, which ended in a ruling for NML and against Argentina; legal experts called it the "sovereign debt trial of the century." In a letter published in the Financial Times, legal experts Andreas F. Lowenfeld and Peter S. Smedresman defended NML's position.
Elliott exposed corruption in the Republic of the Congo in its efforts to enforce judgments totaling more than $100 million in defaulted bank debt. In 2008, Elliott bought $32.6 million in loan debt incurred by Congo. In 2002 and 2003, a British court awarded Elliott more than $100 million for these debts. During the case, US President George W. Bush used a constitutional clause preventing seizure of Congolese assets in the United States by the hedge fund. Brice Mackosso, a campaigner for greater transparency and against corruption in the Congo Republic's government, stated that if it were not for funds like Elliott, "we would not know any facts about the way our country's wealth is being taken away." After Elliott's investigations produced evidence of corruption, the government settled for an estimated $90 million on debt for which Elliott paid less than $20 million.
Investments
2000–2009
In 2003, Elliott believed Procter & Gamble had not offered a fair price for the German hair products company Wella AG, joining other opposing funds, including Germany's Deka Investments. After legal and shareholder battles, P&G raised its offer for preferred shareholders. Elliott said its goal was to "protect the rights of minority shareholders."
In April 2005, the Wisconsin-based Shopko announced that it had agreed to be acquired for approximately $1 billion by a private equity firm for $24 per share. Then a new offer at $25 was rejected, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal, after some "...shareholders threatened to vote down the transaction...." because claiming the bid was low."Elliott joined other hedge funds in opposing the sale because of low bid and because it had concerns about board conflicts of interest. Elliott was then in a $29 per share purchase.
In 2006, the human resources company Adecco announced it had a 35 percent stake in DIS AG, at €54.50 per share making and offered the same for all shares. Adecco also announced that the DIS CEO and CFO had signed management agreements that eventually would make them CEO and CFO, respectively, of Adecco. Adecco attempted to de-list DIS but was blocked in court by a number of hedge funds, including Elliott. The funds also raised concerns about conflict of interest by the CEO and CFO. Adecco then offered an accepted €113 per share.
2010–2019
Since 2010, Elliott has expanded into investing in distressed real estate and has been active in Japan and Germany. In 2015 it viewed Spain and Italy investment opportunities. According to The New York Times, it has "...analysts and portfolio managers in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo..." managing $2 billion in investments." In the U.S., it has focused where banks "...have reined in their lending by participating in direct financing with developers."
In 2013, the company teamed with Time Equities on a commercial real estate project in New York, and took an ownership stake in commercial lender Silverpeak Real Estate Finance.
The New York Times reported in May 2014 that Elliott was financing the development of 5 Beekman Street, at the site of one of Manhattan's first skyscrapers, into a 287-room hotel and 46-story condominium called the Beekman. The project would be carried out by New York's GFI Capital Resources.
In December 2011, Elliott sued the Vietnamese shipbuilding firm Vinashin in a British court, after Vinashin had defaulted in 2010 on a Viet Nam government backed $600 million loan, then offered to pay bondholders 35 cents on the dollar. Elliott sued for the full amount and in April 2012 dropped the case.
In late 2012, Elliott criticized the oil company Hess for its use of capital and for being "distracted" from oil exploration and production by other activities. In January 2013, Elliott called on Hess to sell certain assets and asked Hess investors to vote for five new directors as part of an effort to reconfigure the oil firm and thus boost its share price. "Buried within Hess Corp. is one of the premier U.S. resource play-focused companies," Elliott wrote.
In March 2013, Hess announced that it was acting on some of Elliott's suggestions, but Elliott said that Hess's changes fell far short of what was needed. In April, it was reported that Hess would close its London office on Elliott's advice. Hess has been a "top pick" for Elliott since 2013. As of the fourth quarter of 2014, Elliott owned 17.8 million Hess shares, worth $1.3 billion, making it Elliott's largest holding.
It was reported in December 2012 that Elliott, which already had an 8% stake in Compuware, had offered to buy the company for $11 a share in cash.
2020–present
In February 2020, it was reported that Elliott Management built a more than $2.5 billion stake in the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group. In August 2022, Financial Times reported that Elliott had sold almost all its shares in SoftBank purportedly after losing conviction in Masayoshi Son's ability to lead a turnround.
In February 2020, Elliott Management, with about $2 billion in shares, nominated three directors to the board of Twitter, Inc. The Wall Street Journal then reported that Singer wants to replace Jack Dorsey, due to Dorsey's workload as CEO of both Twitter and Square, and his potential move to Africa. In April 2021, Elliott's directors planned to step down from the board after Twitter's stock performance rose 95% in 2020.
Elliott's February 2020 purchase of Twitter stock was at a per share price of about $36. Elliott exited Twitter in June 2022 shortly after Elon Musk made his tender offer, when the share price was dynamic in the mid to high $45–$50 range, giving Elliott a gain over two years of approximately 33% on the investment.
In November 2020, Elliott Management invested in F5 after having "spoke to the software company's management in recent weeks about ways to boost its lagging stock".
In November 2021, Elliott Advisors announced that it is a large investor with a 3% economic interest in Europe's largest supermarket business, Ahold Delhaize, valued at approximately $1 billion.
In November 2023, Elliott Investment Management spent over $1 billion on a stake in BioMarin, which focuses on rare genetic disorders and is valued at about $16 billion.
In May 2024, Elliott Advisors announced that it is a large investor in Johnson Controls valued at approximately $1 billion.
In June 2024, Elliott Management announced that it had taken a $1.9 billion position in Southwest Airlines and would seek to oust leadership at the carrier, arguing it had "failed to evolve" citing "leadership's stubborn unwillingness to evolve the Company's strategy." The fund launched a website, StrongerSouthwest.com, with a letter for shareholders arguing in favor of its changes. That September, Southwest announced a shakeup of corporate leadership in response to pressure from Elliott, eliminating two board positions and resulting in the retirement of Southwest's CEO Gary C. Kelly, the chief financial officer, and the chief administrative officer. Under Elliott's pressure, Southwest eliminated several unique features of its airline, such as its open seating policy and offering two free checked bags, implementing the first mass layoffs in its 53 year history, introducing basic economy fares, and adding redeye flights and premium seating.