Susquehanna International Group co-founder Jeff Yass is part of a consortium of investors that bid for Sculptor Capital Management, according to people familiar with the matter.
He joined Boaz Weinstein, Bill Ackman and Marc Lasry in making an offer for the publicly traded hedge fund firm after it announced in November that it was looking for a buyer, the people said.
Read more: Hedge Fund Sculptor Received Other Bids at Higher Valuations
Representatives for Susquehanna and Yass didn’t immediately comment.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Weinstein, Ackman and Lasry had bid more than $12 a share, topping the $11.14 offer that Sculptor ultimately accepted from Rithm Capital Corp. The newspaper also said that if the bid were successful, the group would likely replace Sculptor’s management.
Sculptor said in a statement Sunday that the “bidder has not demonstrated adequate committed funding for any of its bids,” and that it “only includes committed financing for less than half of the amount required to consummate the transaction and underestimates the amount that would be necessary by several hundred million dollars.”
Multiple Bids
On Monday, Sculptor said in a proxy filing that it received multiple takeover bids that were higher than Rithm’s $639 million offer. Some were withdrawn or rejected by Sculptor because of burdensome conditions and because the suitor hadn’t secured financing. In one case, co-founder Dan Och and other founding partners rejected a higher bid, according to the statement.
Weinstein, a credit-trading veteran who rose to prominence after betting against the JPMorgan Chase & Co. trader known as the London Whale, runs Saba Capital Management. Ackman leads hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, while Lasry is the co-founder of Avenue Capital Management.
Weinstein and Ackman have previously supported each other publicly on common trades. Last year, Weinstein said he bet against the Hong Kong dollar, joining Ackman in publicizing his short position on the pegged currency and called the trade “a smart lottery ticket.”
