Elliott Investment Management slightly increasing its economic exposure to 11.3% in Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) after agreeing to a truce with the carrier.The activist investor now holds a 9.95% stake in common shares plus a 1.4% through derivatives and swaps. The common shares portion was a slight decrease from a 10.2% stake earlier.
Elliott’s holdings of common stock, which comes with voting rights, now fall below the 10% threshold required for a shareholder to call for a special shareholder meeting, an option that the firm is forgoing for now.
The activist believes Southwest’s stock is still undervalued, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Elliott could increase its stake, the people said, but it couldn’t be learned by how much. Representatives for Elliott and Southwest declined to comment.
After flirting with a proxy fight, Elliott reached a pact with Southwest last week calling for five of the activist investor’s nominees to be added to the airline’s board. Pierre Breber, former chief financial officer of Chevron Corp., also joined as a director, the company announced.
Southwest was Elliott’s closest call to a proxy battle in the US since 2017 when the investor nominated a slate of directors at Arconic Corp. before settling that fight.
Shares of Southwest are up about 14% since Elliott’s position was disclosed in June, while an index that tracks US airlines jumped 24% during the same period.
