Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine - July/August 2008 - (Page 3)

Letter from the editor Movie Madness EDITOR Michael Carroll Peltz EDITOR Michael Carroll EXECUTIVE EDITOR Michael INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Tom Buerkle MANAGING EDITOR David Schutt U.S. EDITOR Jeffrey Kutler EDITOR-AT-LARGE Firth Sinclair ART DIRECTOR Nathan Calhoun ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS ART DIRECTOR Irene Ledwith Peter Carbonara (Money Management), Tom Johnson (Research), ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS Lewis Knox William Loob (Editorial Production), (Research), Jeffrey Kutler (Global Operations and Sathya Rajavelu (Director, ResearchTechnologyGroup), Banking), Deborah F. McClellan (Editorial Steve Rosenbush (Wall Street, Corporate Finance), Tracy Tjaden (International) (Money ManageProduction), Barbara Rudolph BUREAU CHIEFS Loch Adamson (London), ment) Allen T. Cheng (Asia), EUROPEAN EDITOR Tom Buerkle (London) SENIOR EDITORS Steven Brull (Los Angeles), BUREAUCates, Jane B.Hamlin (Hong Kong) Karl CHIEF Kevin Kenney (Editorial Research), Jo Wrighton (Paris) SENIOR EDITORS Steven Brull (Los Angeles), SENIOR WRITERS Frances Denmark, Michael Shari Andrew Capon (London), Jane B. Kenney STAFF WRITERS David Lanchner (Paris), (Editorial Research) Imogen Rose-Smith, Julie Segal SENIOR WRITERS Deepak Gopinath, Justin SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR Tucker Ewing Schack ASSOCIATE EDITORS Sivert Hagen, STAFF WRITERS Rich Blake, David Lanchner WeiQing Lu (Research Specialist), Timothy Roberts (Research Specialist), Carolynn B. Tetro (Paris) COPY CHIEF David Wray SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR Tucker Ewing SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Fran Hawthorne, ASSOCIATE EDITORS Emily Fleckner, Sivert Harvey D. Shapiro, Stephen Taub Hagen CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Pam Abramowitz, COPY CHIEF Beurteaux, Phil Davis, Katie Gilbert, Danielle David Wray Udayan Gupta, Scott Martin, Neil O’Hara, SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Fran Hawthorne, Nick Rockel, Jaye Scholl, Irwin Speizer, Hal Lux, Harvey D. Henry Scott Stokes Shapiro, Charles Smith (Tokyo), Stephen Taub, Joan Warner COPY DEPARTMENT Deputy Copy Chief: Bill Christophersen; CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Colin Barraclough, Copy Editors: Ingrid Accardi, Ruth Hamel Lucy Conger (Mexico City), Jonathan Kandell, ASSISTANT TO THE EDITOR Elizabeth Simroe Lois Madison Reamy, Kazuhiko Shimizu ART DEPARTMENT Deputy Art Director: Diana Panﬁl; (Beijing), Leah Nathans Spiro Associate Art Director: Anthony Scerri; COPY DEPARTMENT H.Wilson; Chief: Jeff CranSenior Designer: Lee Deputy Copy mer Associate: Sabrina Henley; Associate Photo Editor: Alden Gewirtz; ASSISTANT TO THE EDITOR Elizabeth Simroe Color Imaging Manager: John Miliczenko CHAIRMAN & CEO Gary Art Director: ART DEPARTMENT Deputy Mueller Patrizia Bove; Associate Art Director: Stephanie Lora; Photo Editor: GROUP PUBLISHER Christine Cavolina PUBLISHER Joy DeSanto Anastasia Pleasant; Color Imaging Manager: PUBLISHER, INTERNATIONAL Spencer Wicks John Miliczenko PUBLISHER, ASIA Wendy Gallagher ONLINE SALES DIRECTOR Chris DeAngelis PRESIDENT & CEO Christopher R. Brown EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Louis Cassetta PUBLISHER Christine Cavolina PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Brian Gill PUBLISHER, INTERNATIONALRobert Tonchuk DIRECTOR OF FULFILLMENT Lisa Traeger CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER David E. Antin PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Brian Gill Institutional Investor’s AlphaTM and Alpha,TM 225 Park Avenue South, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH 224-3171. New York, NY 10003; (212) 224-3300; Fax: (212)PRODUCTS © 2008 Institutional Investor, Inc. No statement in this magazine is to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell securities. Neither this DIRECTOR any part of it may be reproduced or transmitted in any publication nor OF FINANCE AND OPERATIONS form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopyDavid E. Antin ing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of Institutional Investor magazine. For Institutional Investor’s Alpha TM and Alpha,TM 225 Park Avreprints contact Dewey Palmieri (212) 224-3675; Fax: (212) 224-3563; e-mail: dpalmieri@institutionalinvestor.com. Subscripenue South, New York, NY 10003; (212) 224-3300; Fax: (212) tion hotline: 224-3171. (800) 437-9997; Overseas: (44-20) 7779 8999. WHAT HAS BEEN A TERRIBLE summer for the markets is shaping up to be a great one for the movies. Powered by live-action heroes Indiana Jones and Iron Man, and their animated counterparts Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E, Hollywood could see as many as ten ﬁ lms gross at least $150 million this summer. But as producers and directors start thinking about how to duplicate that success, they may want to look to the ﬁnancial world for their next blockbuster. When it comes to psychological thrillers, surely the story of hedge fund manager Samuel Israel III merits consideration for a remake of a 1993 ﬁlm, only this time it might be titled The Fugitive Who Wasn’t Innocent. In April a Federal judge sentenced Israel, the scion of a legendary commodities trading family, to 20 years in prison for defrauding his Bayou Group investors out of $450 million. On June 9, the day he was supposed to report to prison, Israel faked suicide and went on the lam for nearly a month before eventually surrendering to law enforcement ofﬁcials in Massachusetts. The recent decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission to restrict investors’ ability to short the shares of struggling mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (as well as those of 17 other financial institutions) would make good fodder for the sardonic wit of Barry Sonnenfeld, who directed the 1995 classic Get Shorty. SEC chairman Christopher Cox, likely to be out of a job next year if the Republicans lose the White House, could play himself in the ﬁlm, defending the wisdom behind the move. The SEC decision has drawn the ire of hedge fund managers, who argue that short-sellers are often the ﬁrst ones to identify problems at troubled companies. Casting Alexander Roepers, founder and president of Atlantic Investment Management and the subject of this month’s cover story, is a bit trickier. Like actor Will Smith in this summer’s hit Hancock, Roepers is an unlikely hero — albeit a more gentlemanly one. As Contributing Writer Jaye Scholl reports in “The Gentleman Activist” (page 24), Roepers is an atypical activist investor. He doesn’t wage proxy battles, write threatening letters or publicly attack companies. Roepers, who has a European courtliness reﬂecting his Dutch roots, prefers to work behind the scenes, advising the managements of the undervalued companies in which he invests on ways to get their businesses — and share prices — back on track. Roepers is, however, ﬁercely competitive. He has been racing yachts since the early 1990s and last July won the 2007 Swan 45 World Championship in a very close contest off the coast of Southampton, England. Director Peter Weir may want to give Roepers a call if he decides to make another Master and Commander. Denise Murrell MICHAEL PELTZ EXECUTIVE EDITOR mpeltz@iimagazine.com JULY/AUGUST 2008 • INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR’S ALPHA • 00 FEBRUARY 2008 • INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR’S ALPHA • 3

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine - July/August 2008

Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine - July/August 2008 Contents Letter from the Editor Longs & Shorts Pension Corner: Mr. Big Goes Small The Good Guys: Adopt This School! Interview: Man's Great Hope Cover Story: The Gentleman Activist Strategies: The New Bankers Profile: Staying Alive Research Center: The Best of the East The Asian Sensations Alpha Bytes: Into the Light Unhedged: Commentary: Speculating on Washington

Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine - July/August 2008

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