Daniel Och has ended his long-running feud with Sculptor Capital Management by agreeing to back a sweetened bid for the hedge fund he founded from real estate investment firm Rithm Capital, according to a report by The Financial Times.
The report cites a statement from Sculptor as confirming that Rithm Capital has agreed to boost its purchase price to $12.70 per Sculptor common share, valuing the company at about $719m, having first struck a deal to acquired the business in July at $11.15 per share, an offer that was subsequently increased to $12.00 last month.
Och, who remains a major Sculptor shareholder but has not held a management position at the firm for the past four years, had been pressing for the company to consider a rival bid from a consortium led by Saba Capital Boss Boaz Weinstein.
According to securities filings, the latest offer from Weinstein’s group, which includes Bill Ackman, was $13.50 per share, but was rejected due to ongoing concerns that many existing clients would withdraw their capital before a Weinstein deal could close, putting the acquisition at risk.
Och and a group of allied former executives at Sculptor have now agreed to vote their collective 15 per cent stake in the company in favour of the Rithm deal and Och has also agreed to drop litigation linked to the earlier Rithm deal.
The report cites unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter as revealing that the Weinstein group now acknowledges that its offer is unlikely to secure sufficient investor support to progress.
In a press statement Marcy Engel, Chair of the Board of Directors of Sculptor, said: “We are pleased to reach this amended agreement with Rithm, which delivers a highly attractive premium to Sculptor stockholders, and appreciate the support of Mr Och and the other former EMDs in achieving this outcome for stockholders.”
