Commvault Faces Proxy Fight After Activist Investor Elliott Management Acquires 10 Percent Stake
Data protection software developer Commvault Systems could soon find itself in a proxy battle after hedge fund Elliott Management disclosed Monday that it had acquired a 10.3 percent stake in the company and planned to nominate four directors to the company's board.
Elliott Management, in a letter to Commvault management, expressed frustration with the vendor's profit margins and called on the company to conduct an operational review and return more capital to investors, according to a Reuters story. The letter also called for a review of Commvault's management.
The 10.3 percent stake makes Elliott Management one of Commvault's biggest shareholders. In recent years, it has acquired stakes in a number of IT industry companies, including Cognizant, Citrix Systems and BMC, and sought changes in their management ranks and strategic directions.