Activist investment firm Jana Partners took a stake in CyrusOne Inc roughly two years after the real estate investment trust attracted takeover interest from rivals and less than a year after it named a new chief executive officer, according to a regulatory filing.
Jana bought 551,365 CyrusOne shares sometime during the first quarter of 2021 and has not publicly discussed the stake or its potential plans for the company, which builds and then rents out data centres. The share price climbed more than 2% after Reuters reported Jana’s stake before the filing was released.
The New York-based hedge fund, founded by Barry Rosenstein, has a history of quietly pushing for change behind the scenes, and some of its portfolio companies, including Whole Foods Market, Pinnacle Foods and Perspecta Inc, were later sold.
Jana also bought 5.8 million shares in Vonage Holdings.
It also exited a number of positions including Tegna Inc and Bloomin’ Brands.
A Jana representative declined to comment.
CyrusOne’s stock closed up 1.62% at $70.72, amid speculation that Jana will push for a sale.
CyrusOne’s stock had been below levels seen in 2019 when speculation mounted that the Dallas-based company was receiving takeover interest from a number of firms, including KKR and Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners.
Talk of a potential deal went cold when CyrusOne’s then-CEO, Gary Wojtaszek, said on an earnings call in late 2019 that no sale was being considered. Wojtaszek resigned in early 2020 and was replaced by Bruce Duncan in June 2020. Duncan was 68 when he was hired and had more than 40 years’ experience in real estate management, the company said.
Source: Reuters.com