Splunk ( NASDAQ: SPLK ) rose 10% on reports that activist investor Starboard Value has taken a stake in the software maker and and plans to push for changes.
Starboard has a stake of just under 5%, according to reports from the WSJ and Reuters. Starboard founder and CEO Jeff Smith it set to appear at the 13D Monitor Active-Passive Investor Summit on Tuesday and will unveil his ideas about Splunk ( SPLK ) there.
The Starboard stake comes after private equity firm Hellman & Friedman last month agreed to a standstill agreement with the cloud-services company. H&F agreed that it won't participate in any “proxy contest” or other solicitation of proxies. H&F has a 7.87% stake in Spunk and began buying the shares after the company's shares plummeted when the company's former CEO resigned in November, according to an earlier WSJ report.
Recall in February the WSJ reported that Cisco ( CSCO ) made a more than $20B acquisition offer for Splunk.
In a report last week, RBC listed Splunk ( SPLK ) as one of the the most likely M&A targets for a strategic acquirer.
For further details see:
Splunk jumps 10% on reports activist Starboard has taken stake