Third Point registers 1.64% direct interest in Sony - filing

By Rizza Sta. Ana

Nov 11, 2013 03:20 AM EST

Third Point LLC, an activist hedge fund founded by Daniel Loeb, listed in its recent regulatory filing that it had a 1.64% ownership interest in Sony. The filing that was showed on Monday also revealed that Third Point's holding in the electronics giant was updated as of September 30.

Third Point was established by Loeb in 1995. With USD3.3 million startup investment reportedly from family and friends, the firm grew into a company with USD1.7 billion in assets.

Financial daily The Nikkei had said in September that Third Point would be registering an almost 3% interest in Sony in its own name. The New York-based hedge fund had said earlier that its holdings in Sony was around 7%, but had registered portions of its ownership under different names.

Loeb had been lobbying for Sony to spin off its entertainment and electronics businesses since May this year. Bloomberg said Sony had been considering Loeb's proposal, and had tapped Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, Inc to provide financial advise regarding the matter.

In June, Third Point announced that it had increased its interest in the electronics company to 70 million shares. The value of the hedge fund's interest that time was USD1.4 billion.

In August, Actor George Clooney had slammed Loeb's proposal to spin of Sony's businesses. Clooney's Smokehouse Pictures production company had an existing contract with the entertainment division of Sony.

The increase of Third Point's holding in Sony was also seen as strategic. Loeb had been seen in his career as an activist investor to obtain board director positions in companies. Loeb was able to secure seats at Yahoo for himself and colleagues former Goldman Sachs executive Harry Wilson, former NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker and former MTV Networks executive Michael J Wolf. The Nikkei said Loeb was interested in having powers to file shareholder resolutions in Sony and push changes in Sony's management.

When asked for comment by Reuters, Third Point representatives and Sony were not available to provide one.

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