A ham in hand is worth more than two sows on the pen. Starboard Value, the activist fund that once thought that it could whip up a higher bid than Shuanghui’s $34/share offer for pork producer Smithfield Foods, has conceded that it will not be able to. So the Shuanghui deal will be done on Tuesday after a shareholder vote (Starboard will vote its 6 per cent stake in favour too). In a year marked by dissident investors upending deals, the Smithfield situation shows that management is not always overmatched by hedge fund wizards.
手中一条火腿胜过栏里两头活猪。美国维权对冲基金Starboard Value曾想策动其他买家以高于双汇(Shuanghui)每股34美元的竞价，收购猪肉加工商史密斯菲尔德食品(Smithfield Foods)，但现在承认办不到。所以双汇这笔收购交易将在周二的股东投票后落锤（持有6%股权的Starboard将投赞成票）（译者注：史密斯菲尔德食品公司的股东已在周二投票通过了这一收购）。在异见股东屡屡推翻并购交易的今年，史密斯菲尔德的情况表明，管理层并不总被对冲基金的怪才打败。