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Wednesday, November 13, 2024
13D Activist Fund

History

The Fund was founded on December 28, 2011 by Ken Squire, who serves as the Chief Investment Strategist of the 13D Activist Fund. After graduating from New York University School of Law in 1992, Ken practiced corporate and securities law for five years at Weil, Gotshal & Manges. He left the practice of law in 1997 and joined private equity firm Crown Capital Group. After nine years as a private equity investor, in April of 2006, Ken founded 13D Monitor, a subscription-based research company that specializes in 13D filings and shareholder activism.

13D Monitor reviews and analyzes approximately 2,000 13D filings and 4,000 13D amendments each year and writes reports on the material filings. At any given time, 13D Monitor is following between 150 and 200 material activist campaigns. Ken quickly became a leading commentator in this industry, penning “The Activist Spotlight” weekly column in Barron’s since 2007 and regularly appearing on CNBC and Bloomberg TV. Ken also hosts the largest conference dedicated to activism where all of the major activists come to speak. As a result, Ken has developed deep relationships with virtually every major activist investor and speaks with them and others in the activist community on a regular basis. Since its launch in 2006, 13D Monitor has become the preeminent qualitative subscription-based service for the institutional investor community, with clients that include most of the major investment banks and many of the top hedge funds, pension funds, institutional investors and law firms.

With 13D Monitor established as the premier subscription research service for the institutional investor community, Ken began thinking about how he could apply his research and expertise for the benefit of individual investors. He came to three conclusions: (i) shareholder activism has been a successful strategy that has historically outperformed the market, (ii) we know of no way for individuals to invest in activism and (iii) we know of no one else who is as focused on this area like Ken is, given his focus since 2006 on nothing but analyzing 13D filings, developing relationships with the activists and the activist community and becoming deeply familiar with the styles, habits and philosophies of activist investors. So in December of 2011, Ken Squire launched the 13D Activist Fund to give individual and institutional investors access to the strategy of shareholder activism in a low-cost, liquid, transparent investment vehicle.