holding company industry financial services founded new york city 1977 founder paul singer aum us 27 billion 2016 1 website elliottmgmt.com elliott management corporation is an american hedge fund management firm . it serves as the management affiliate of american hedge funds flagship elliott associates l.p. and elliott international limited . elliott was founded by paul singer who also serves as ceo of the management company which is based in new york city . from inception elliott has generated for its investors a 14.6 % net compound annual return compared to 10.9 % for the s & p 500 stock index and now has more than us 23 billion in assets under management . 2 3 as of the first quarter of 2015 elliott s portfolio is worth over 8 billion . 4 5 by 2009 more than one third of elliott s portfolio was concentrated in distressed securities typically in the debt of bankrupt or near bankrupt companies . 6 elliot has widely been described as a vulture fund . 7 8 9 10 contents 1 overview 2 equity partners 3 affiliates and units 4 investments 4.1 early activities 4.2 wella ag 4.3 shopko 4.4 adecco 4.5 novell 4.6 vinashin 4.7 compuware 4.8 hess 4.9 interpublic group 4.10 sigfox 4.11 solar projects in uk 4.12 comcast 4.13 cdk global llc 4.14 cabela s 4.15 real estate 4.16 sovereign debt 4.16.1 argentina 4.16.2 congo 4.16.3 peru 5 references 6 external links overview edit paul singer created elliott associates in january 1977 11 starting with 1.3 million from friends and family . elliott is his middle name . 12 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 . 13 14 elliott associates manages 8.6 billion and is elliott management s primary domestic fund . 15 elliott is noted for its relatively high returns and low volatility . the new york times has called paul singer one of the most revered hedge fund managers on wall street . 6 elliott returns have generally outpaced the annual growth of the s & p 500 . describing singer in 2012 as one of the smartest and toughest money managers in the business fortune noted that over the previous 35 years he had produced an extraordinary 14 % average annual return after fees nearly double the price appreciation of the s & p 500 . 12 from inception elliott has generated for its investors a 14.6 % net compound annual return compared to 10.9 % for the s & p 500 stock index 16 while having only one third of the index s volatility . 17 the firm is currently closed to new investors . as of mid 2008 elliott counted 175 employees in new york city london tokyo and hong kong 14 and is one of the oldest hedge funds under continuous management . 18 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 . 19 in 2015 institutional investor alpha magazine gave elliott an a grade and the 9 ranking among hedge funds worldwide . 20 equity partners edit elliott has four equity partners . paul singer and jon pollock are co chief investment officers ; gordon singer paul singer s son runs elliott s london office . steven kasoff formerly the firm s senior portfolio manager was also given the title of equity partner in january 2015 . 21 affiliates and units edit hambledon inc. is a cayman islands corporation controlled by singer . 22 nml capital is a subsidiary of elliott management . 23 kensington international ltd. is a subsidiary of elliott management . 24 maidenhead llc and warrington llc are us entities that are controlled by singer . 25 elliott advisors uk ltd. is a london based advisor to elliott . 26 elliott advisors hk limited is the hong kong arm of elliott management . 27 investments edit early activities edit 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 twa mci worldcom and enron 28 as well as overseas companies including telecom italia spa and elektrim . wella ag edit in 2003 elliott believed p & g was not offering a fair price to all preferred shareholders for the german hair products company wella ag . elliott joined other funds in opposing the deal including germany s second largest fund manager deka investments . after several years of legal and shareholder battles p & g raised its offer for wella ag for all preferred shareholders . 14 according to the b rsen zeitung elliott said its goal was to protect the rights of minority shareholders . 29 shopko edit in april 2005 the wisconsin based retail chain shopko announced that it had agreed to be acquired for approximately 1 billion by a private equity firm at a price of 24 per share . 30 this and a subsequent offer at 25 were rejected according to the milwaukee business journal after several dissident shareholders threatened to vote down the transaction claiming the bid was too low . elliott joined other hedge funds in opposing the sale because it felt the price was too low and because it had concerns about conflicts of interests on the board . 31 32 elliott eventually participated in purchasing shopko at 29 per share . 33 adecco edit the human resource consulting company adecco announced in january 2006 it had secured a 35 percent stake in dis ag at a price of 54.5 per share making an offer at that price for all shares . 34 the company also announced that the dis ceo and cfo had signed lucrative management agreements that eventually would make them ceo and cfo respectively of adecco . 35 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 . eventually adecco offered 113 per share which was accepted . 34 novell edit in march 2010 elliott bid 5.75 per share for software company novell . although novell rejected the offer elliott welcomed the decision to sell the company . 36 vinashin edit in december 2011 it was reported that elliott was suing the vietnamese shipbuilding firm vinashin in a british court . the company had defaulted a year earlier on a 600 million loan backed by the vietnamese government then offered to pay bondholders 35 cents on the dollar . elliott sued for the full amount . 37 compuware edit 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 . 38 hess edit 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 . 39 buried within hess corp. is one of the premier u.s. resource play focused companies elliott wrote . 40 in march 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 . 41 in april it was reported that hess would close its london office on elliott s advice . 42 hess has been a top pick for elliott since 2013 . 43 as of the fourth quarter of 2014 elliott owned 17.8 million shares of hess worth 1.3 billion making it elliott s largest holding . 5 interpublic group edit in summer 2014 elliott disclosed a 6.7 % stake in interpublic group of companies an ad agency holding company and a person briefed on the matter said elliott planned to call on the company to sell itself to one of its competitors . 44 sigfox edit main article sigfox elliott is one of several firms that according to a february 2015 report have invested in the sigfox cellular network which serves france spain the uk and the netherlands . 45 solar projects in uk edit in february 2015 the telegraph reported that elliot management s uk arm elliott capital advisors had put money into half a dozen unnamed solar power projects in that country and that it had hedged its bets by taking out short positions in five other renewable energy funds listed on the london stock market . 46 comcast edit in september 2015 elliott purchased a 1 902 642 stake in comcast a philadelphia based mass media company for an average price of 58.68 a share . this transaction had a 1.65 % impact on elliott s portfolio . 47 48 cdk global llc edit elliott acquired a 4 % stake in cdk global in may 2015 . 49 as of september 2016 it was holding a 5.4 % stake in the company and is the third largest shareholder . 50 on may 4 2016 elliott sent a letter to cdk board of directors outlining steps they felt were required in order to meet projected roi and margins . quoting a plan for cdk to optimize its business operations and drive a meaningful improvement in shareholder value . 51 on june 8 2016 elliott sent a letter to cdk board of directors directing that cdk adopt the steps in the value maximizing plan without delay due to share holder support of the plan in the may 4th letter . 52 cabela s edit in october 2015 elliott disclosed an 11.1 percent stake in cabela s an outdoor recreation and clothing retailer reporting that it is seeking to engage the company s board to discuss strategies and a potential sale of the company . 53 54 real estate edit since 2010 elliott management has expanded into investing in distressed real estate . it has been active in japanese and german real estate and in 2015 viewed spain and italy as offering attractive investment opportunities . 21 now according to the new york times it has teams of analysts and portfolio managers in london hong kong and tokyo and investments worth more 2 billion . in the u.s. it has focused on filling in the gap where banks have had to rein in their lending by participating in direct financing with developers . 55 in 2013 elliott management teamed up with time equities on a 63 story commercial and real estate project in new york and took an ownership stake in silverpeak real estate finance a commercial real estate lender . 55 the new york times reported in may 2014 that elliott management was financing the development of 5 beekman street a 130 year old building 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 gfi capital resources a new york real estate company . 55 sovereign debt edit a portion of elliott s distressed securities trading has been in sovereign debt . 56 argentina edit 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