Third Point Exits Macerich, Honeywell, Time Warner; Adds Wynn

(Bloomberg) -- Third Point, the activist fund run by Dan Loeb, exited a series of high-profile positions during the first quarter, including stakes in Honeywell International Inc., Time Warner Inc., MGM Resorts International and U.S. mall owner Macerich Co.

The New York-based hedge fund also added a position in Wynn Resorts Ltd., according to a regulatory filing Tuesday. The Las Vegas-based casino company’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Steve Wynn, resigned in February amid allegations of sexual harassment. Wynn Resorts made a surprise announcement Monday that two directors were resigning, including one who co-founder Elaine Wynn urged shareholders to vote against.

Land & Buildings Investment Management, the activist fund run by Jonathan Litt, also disclosed a stake in Wynn Resorts Tuesday.

Third Point’s exit of Macerich comes after that company announced last month that Chief Executive Officer Arthur Coppola would retire at the end of the year.

Loeb had been calling for significant portfolio changes at Honeywell. CEO Darius Adamczyk has since decided to spin off Honeywell’s home-products and transportation-systems business units.

PagSeguro Stake

Third Point also disclosed it has built a new position in embattled Brazilian payment processor Pagseguro Digital Ltd. Pagseguro, which listed its shares in a $2.3 billion IPO in the U.S. in January, dropped from a peak of about $39 per share in April after reports that its rival, Cielo SA, had a deal with Banco do Brasil and Bradesco to market low-price point-of-sale devices, an attack on Pagseguro’s core market.

This month, Loeb called on United Technologies Corp. to break apart, saying a split into aerospace, elevator and climate-controls companies would boost shareholder value by $20 billion. Third Point disclosed Tuesday that it held about $893 million of United Technologies’ stock at the end of the first quarter.

Most of Third Point’s equity stakes aren’t tied to activism, in which a fund seeks to persuade executives and directors to make changes it argues will reward shareholders.

Third Point also disclosed the following portfolio changes, among others:

• Added positions in Electronic Arts Inc., Marathon Petroleum Corp., Adobe Systems Inc., Black Knight Inc., Salesforce.com Inc., Microsoft Corp., PFB Energy Inc. and MercadoLibre Inc.
• Increased its position in Lennar Corp., Worldpay Inc., Vulcan Materials Co., Dover Corp., and Anthem Inc.
• Sold down positions in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., BlackRock Inc,, DowDupont Inc. and Alphabet Inc.
• Exited stakes in Aetna Inc., NXP Semiconductors NV., FMC Corp., and RSP Permian Inc.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Deveau in New York at sdeveau2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha

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