HG Vora, a hedgerow fund with a data track record of investment inwards casino equities, has built an 18.5% wager inwards William Penn Entertainment (NASDAQ: PENN) and is requesting that the gaming society subsidisation it table seats.
In a unexampled 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the money manager revealed the place inward the part casino operator, which includes mutual stock up and derivatives. Though it didn’t reveal how many directors slots it wants, HG Vora did chide William Penn for its lagging inventory price. The hedge in monetary fund previously held shares of Penn inward 2018.
Given the persistent underperformance of the Common Stock and the Issuer’s cap storage allocation rails record, amongst other areas of concern, the Reporting Persons experience requested that the Issuer afford them the right hand to designate extremely qualified directors who would follow committed to workings with the Issuer’s management and dude Board members to help the Issuer actualize its total potential,” said the money manager inward the filing.
Shares of William Penn jumped 7.48% inwards betimes trading on the news, adding to a earn of nearly 16% o'er the past 90 years — a relocation fueled mostly by the strong debut of the ESPN Bet sports wagering wandering application. Still, the gillyflower is downward 10% year-to-date, while rivals such as Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ: CZR) and DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) have posted impressive gains.
HG Vora Could Push for Change at Penn
HG Vora has the looking of an activist investor in Penn. The timing of the duck monetary fund revealing its stake in the gaming accompany comes as the window for the operator to propose directors for 2024 starts on Jan. 8, running through Feb. 7.
Activist investors thrust for commute inwards a variety of forms. It’s possible that HG Vora could enlightened a proxy conflict if William Penn doesn’t swordplay clod in terms of granting it get on seats.
The money manager could use up actions ranging from “without limitation, proposing changes in the Issuer’s operations, proposing changes to the Board and the Issuer’s direction team, proposing changes to the Issuer’s charter, bylaws or governance structure, capitalisation or dividend policy, proposing sinful incorporated transactions, plus sales, soliciting proxies from other stockholders of the Issuer inwards connexion with meetings of stockholder.”
The hedge monetary fund directly owns 14.5 zillion shares of Penn equity, or 9.6% of the shares spectacular based on the gaming company’s shares salient tally as of Oct. 26. The residuum of the bet comes by path of “a cash-settled swap arrangement representing economical exposure to an additional 13,500,000 shares of the Issuer’s Common Stock” and other cash-settle options.
Penn Joins List Seeing Activist Action
To closely 2023, activist investors are increasing exposure to gaming equities. Prior to HG Vora telling its stake inward Penn, several skirt pecuniary resource piled into Entain (OTC: GMVHF), potentially leading to the going of former CEO Jette Nygaard-Andersen while portion Eminence Washington father Ricky Sandler land a gameboard sit down at the Coral owner.
As for HG Vora, its history of gaming investments, which was highlighted inward regulatory filing, is lengthy and mostly successful.
The money manager has previously held positions in Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD), Caesars, Gamesys, and the predecessor keep company of Bally’s (NYSE: BALY).
Experience the thrill of winning big with our exciting selection of slot games at dahmain.com - the ultimate destination for online casino entertainment. Whether you're a seasoned player or new to the world of online casinos, we have something for everyone to enjoy and experience the excitement of hitting the jackpot!