John Levin, the embattled chairman and CEO of
Levin wrote a scathing letter to shareholders late last week, the latest in a string of nasty filings and counter-filings ahead of BKF's annual meeting on Wednesday, according to the Post.
Levin and BKF, a money manager will more than $13 billion in assets, including $3.7 billion in hedge funds, is fighting three so-called activist hedge funds that seek to depose Levin and two other members of the board.
Two of the hedge funds, the Post reports, New York's Steel Partners and San Francisco's Cannell Capital have filed vicious, and at times amusing letters with the SEC chronicling their frustration with BKF's $62 million loss over the past five years.
In response to what Levin deemed "a noisy, mean-spirited" public campaign by hedge funds that seek only to maximize short-term profits, he criticized them for failing to outline a viable business plan, the Post reported. Levin pointed specifically to Steel Partners' "stubborn refusal to understand the businesses they are seeking to control."
Levin further argued that the two hedge funds' attacks are counterproductive because they make it more difficult to recruit the chief operating officer Steel has insisted the firm should have.
The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.
