Market Cap: $10.38 B

Deal Value: $12.10 B

Sweden’s private equity firm EQT AB entered into a merger agreement on October 21, 2026, to acquire molecular testing company Qiagen in a $12.10 billion deal, ending years of takeover speculation surrounding the Dutch firm.

Qiagen shareholders will receive €46.50 ($52.29) in cash per share…

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We remain in the depths of the quiet period at the moment, the time around earnings season when insider activity becomes muted. Both insider buying and selling in aggregate declined sharply this week, but nevertheless, there were still a few companies that caught our eye from the list of the top five insider purchases and sales. We ran into …

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Signing up directly on InsideArbitrage saves us a lot of time and fees and so I have included a 20% discount on both our Plus and Premium plans if you decide to sign up here.

Use the promo code TWENTY to get this 20% discount. It is only valid until the end of this month.

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If you found value in this weekly Special Situations Report, please consider supporting our work by subscribing to our paid service either directly through Inside Arbitrage or here on Substack.

Table of Contents:

1. Update on Developing M&A

2. Update on Shareholder Activism

3. Update on Other Special Situations

4. Announced M&A

5. C-Suite Sudden Departures

Powered by InsideArbitrage.

Update on Developing M&A

• America’s Car-Mart (CRMT): The company and its lenders are working toward a sale that will allow the business to continue operating. Discussions center around a deal that would be executed through a court-supervised Chapter 11 sale process or via a shareholder vote. The company has been exploring multiple options, and as part of the restructuring, the outstanding asset-backed securitization trusts are expected to remain untouched. In June, the company retained Houlihan Lokey to serve as its financial advisor to evaluate and pursue strategic alternatives, including potential financing, recapitalization, mergers and acquisitions, and other transactions. (Bloomberg)

• GFL Environmental (GFL): Received proposals from two competing groups of potential buyers; one includes KKR (KKR), Energy Capital Partners and Blackstone (BX); the other includes Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) and IFM Investors. Both groups have proposed rolling Canadian billionaire Patrick Dovigi’s entire stake into the transaction and keeping him involved in the business. While the companies are still negotiating the terms and structure of a potential transaction, a deal could be reached as early as next week. (Bloomberg)

• InMode (INMD): Steel Partners announced it is setting an expiration date of October 30, 2026, for its offer to acquire InMode for $16.75 per share in cash. It said that the company has not engaged with it in good faith. (Press Release)

• Lionsgate Studios (LION): Legendary Entertainment has revived talks to acquire Lionsgate Studios and submitted a takeover offer. Legendary had weighed making a bid for Lionsgate last year, and since then, the two parties have held on-and-off talks about a potential deal. France’s Bollore Group was also interested in a takeover in July. (Bloomberg)

Rumors

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Market Cap: $783.89 M

Deal Value: $1.30 B

Rumored deals and potential acquisitions coming to fruition were the primary theme last week. All four deals announced last week had been identified as potential targets earlier this year. However, there are two that we’d like to focus on today.

Bumble to Go Private in $1.30 Billion Deal

Dat…

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We didn’t take this decision lightly. We put in a lot of effort into aggregating this data and verifying it every week. We also add a lot of context to the data through a series of spotlight ideas and articles we publish on InsideArbitrage. You can check out a sample of one of our monthly special situations newsletters here.

Model Portfolio and Watchlist

The service on InsideArbitrage also includes a model portfolio that updates in real time and a watchlist. I purchase every position that is added to the model portfolio for my personal portfolio and often with the same position size (sometimes larger but rarely a smaller position).

Past performance is not indicative of future returns, especially in the kind of market we are currently experiencing. Year-to-date, the model portfolio has generated gains of 54.70% while being broadly diversified (we usually have 25 to 30 positions) and without being over-indexed to AI names.

For full transparency, every position in the model portfolio links back to a specific writeup that triggered the addition of the idea to the portfolio.

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Only the Premium plan is offered if you sign up directly from Substack. If you wish to sign up for either the Plus (mostly content and some tools) or the Professional plan (access for a team of four users and proprietary data/tools), you can do so directly on InsideArbitrage.

Instead of this weekly Special Situations Report on Sunday, on InsideArbitrage we have our popular Event-Driven Monitor that is published every morning before the market opens. You will not have to verify the data like you would with an AI tool because all data is verified by humans and often by multiple people in the team.

This is one of the reasons multiple brokers use our data and so do some of the largest hedge funds in the world.

Our weekly Merger Arbitrage Mondays article will cover everything that happened in M&A including announced deals, updates as the deal progresses through various milestones (shareholder vote, antitrust review, etc.) as well as deal rumors.

Our weekly Insider Weekends article will cover one insider purchase or sale from the prior week that we found interesting. I moved last week’s Insider Weekends article outside the paywall so you can check it out here.

I am barely scratching the surface of all the information we provide on InsideArbitrage.

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I know our Premium plan is sometimes expensive for individual investors who are not doing this professionally and don’t need all the tools and custom screens that plan comes with. This is why we introduced the lower priced Plus plan that at the annual subscription rate of $480 works out to just $40 a month.

Signing up directly on InsideArbitrage saves us a lot of time and fees and so I’ll include a 20% discount on both our Plus and Premium plans if you decide to sign up here.

Use the promo code TWENTY to get this 20% discount. It is only valid until the end of this month.

You can cancel anytime directly from our website. No calls or emails required. Receive a prorated refund credited to your card after a minimum subscription period of one month.

If you found value in this weekly Special Situations Report, please consider supporting our work by subscribing to our paid service either directly through Inside Arbitrage or here on Substack.

Now back to regular programming.

Table of Contents:

1. Update on Developing M&A

2. Update on Shareholder Activism

3. Update on Other Special Situations

4. Announced M&A

5. C-Suite Sudden Departures

Powered by InsideArbitrage.

Update on Developing M&A

• Aurora Cannabis (ACB): Recommended that shareholders reject the hostile offer by Curaleaf (CURLF) to acquire the company for the total implied consideration of $5 per Aurora share. In August, Curaleaf had offered $4 per share, which was increased to $5 after the previous offer was rejected as well. (Press Release)

• Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG): Starbucks (SBUX) denied that it is considering acquiring Chipotle Mexican Grill. FT reported last week that Starbucks had explored a takeover of Chipotle and had worked with advisers in recent months on a takeover proposal. (CNBC)

• Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP): Piper Sandler (PIPR) and Perella have abandoned merger talks. The advisory firms had been discussing an all-stock merger but could not agree on key financial and personnel matters. In recent weeks, the two firms tried to hash out lock-up agreements to retain dozens of Perella Weinberg’s top bankers at the combined entity. However, a critical mass of Perella Weinberg’s top talent did not join the deal, undermining Piper’s confidence. Last month, WSJ reported that the two companies were in talks to combine. (FT)

• SkyAI (SKYA): The Special Committee rejected Forward Industries’ (FWDI) latest unsolicited, non-binding acquisition proposal. The Board determined that Forward’s latest proposal at an exchange ratio of 0.306 shares of common stock in FWDI per SkyAI share, with no certainty of timing or value, undervalues SkyAI. (Press Release)

• UBS (UBS): Is working on possible scenarios including shifting its headquarters, or a merger with another bank, if Switzerland introduces new banking rules it deems excessively strict. A group inside the bank is considering various options, which include drawing up a list of smaller banks in the United States that UBS could potentially buy, and the prospect of the bank being taken over itself. There are no active talks underway. (Reuters)

Rumors

No new rumors were announced last week.

To access all rumors, a history of updates and the eventual outcomes, check out our Deals in the Works tool that includes data on over 9 years of developing M&A situations:

Update on Shareholder Activism

• Ethan Allen (ETD): DGB Investments said it is extending an invitation to Ethan Allen CEO and Chairman Farooq Kathwari to take up the role of board chairman emeritus to ensure a smooth transition period should the activist succeed in its proxy challenge to replace the CEO. DGB, which owns about 5% of Ethan Allen, wants to recognize Kathwari’s contribution to the company. Chairman emeritus would be a non-board advisory role. DGB continues to seek to replace the entire five-person board, including Kathwari. (Press Release)

• Novavax (NVAX): Shah Capital announced that it has voluntarily withdrawn its registration as an investment adviser. Shah Capital no longer holds the shares of Novavax with the purpose of influencing control. The activist has restructured its investment management activities to create a family office. (13D Filing)

• SkyAI (SKYA): Bastion Trading expressed serious concerns regarding the company’s tender offer, including the lack of transparency surrounding the disposal of about 70% of its Solana (SOL) holdings, the legitimacy of the incumbent board, and the fairness of the proposed tender offer terms. Bastion accused SkyAI of selling SOL holdings without adequate disclosure and urged board changes. It proposed improving the tender offer by raising the price from $3 to at least $3.50 per share or eligible warrant, removing the $100 SOL price and 50% minimum participation conditions, and allowing up to 100% of pre-funded warrants to be tendered. (Press Release)

• Xponential Fitness (XPOF): Adopted a limited-duration stockholder rights plan. Under the Rights Plan, the rights generally become exercisable only if a person or group acquires beneficial ownership of 19.90% or more of the Class A shares. Voss Capital and Kanen Wealth Management, with 18.20% and 4% stakes in the company, respectively, were pushing the company to pursue strategic alternatives. (Press Release)

Our comprehensive Activists Tool includes current activist campaigns and all updates as the campaigns unfold: https://www.insidearbitrage.com/shareholder-activists-tool

Update on Other Special Situations

• Medtronic / MiniMed (MDT / MMED): Medtronic completed the split-off of its diabetes business after an oversubscribed exchange offer. It exchanged all 252.81 million MiniMed shares it owned for 55.03 million MDT shares, fully exiting its ownership in MiniMed.

  • The final exchange ratio was 4.5939 MMED shares for each MDT share accepted, with a final proration factor of 18.289133%, meaning only about 18.30% of eligible tendered MDT shares were accepted. Odd-lot holders tendering fewer than 100 shares were exempt from proration. (Press Release)

  • (For background on the Medtronic–MiniMed split-off and how the transaction was structured, check out our September mid-month update.)

• National Fuel Gas (NFG): National Fuel Gas approved a tax-free spin-off of its Integrated Upstream and Gathering business, targeted for H2 2027. NFG shareholders are expected to receive SpinCo shares, while National Fuel may retain up to 19.9% of SpinCo (Filing).

• Flex (FLEX): Flex completed its acquisition of EPC Power, adding grid-forming and power-conversion technology to its Cloud and Power Infrastructure segment. The segment is still planned to be separated as Axiom Solutions International in Q1 2027. (Press Release)

  • Flex said Axiom expanded its modular AI data center portfolio with integrated power, compute, and cooling systems. (Press Release)

• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): Johnson & Johnson said it is leaning toward spinning off its DePuy Synthes orthopaedics business rather than selling it, believing a spin-off could create greater long-term shareholder value. The separation remains on track for mid-2027. The update comes as J&J’s MedTech division reported just 2.5% sales growth in Q3 2026, trailing its pharmaceutical business. (Bloomberg)

• International Paper (IP): International Paper is in early talks with potential bidders for its EMEA Packaging business after unsolicited approaches while continuing the planned spin-off in parallel. Reuters reported Lone Star and Atlas Holdings are exploring separate bids that could value the business at under $6 billion. (Reuters)

You can view the full list of upcoming spinoffs including each update since the announcement of the spinoff in our Upcoming Spinoffs List.

Announced M&A

Target / Acquirer – Approximate Transaction Enterprise Value, Expected Closing

Communication Services

• Bumble (BMBL) / Ithaca Holdings - $1.3 bn, H1 2027 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

Consumer Cyclical

• Penske Automotive Group (PAG) / Motown Acquisition, an entity owned by Penske Corp and Mitsui - $16.3 bn, Q1 2027 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

Technology

• CCC Intelligent Solutions (CCC) / GTCR and Elliott - $6.1 bn, Q1 2027 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

• Varonis Systems (VRNS) / Proofpoint - $6.3 bn, H1 2027 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

Check out a list of nearly 80 active mergers & acquisitions in our Merger Arbitrage Tool. Includes the ability to track specific deals, email alerts for new deals, real-time spreads, annualized returns, all merger updates and spread history charts.

Sudden Departures

“Sudden Departures” highlights executive exits announced with short notice, where the executive is expected to leave within 30 days. 

• Super Micro Computer (SMCI): Chief Financial Officer David Weigand departs effective October 14, 2026. The change follows a prolonged CFO search after prior governance and internal-control concerns. Super Micro is also facing regulatory scrutiny related to an alleged $2.5 billion AI-server export scheme involving individuals linked to the company, although Super Micro itself has not been charged. (Filing) (Reuters)

• Bausch + Lomb (BLCO): Chief Executive Officer Brent Saunders steps down effective October 12, 2026. (Filing)

• Sinda (SIND): Chief Financial Officer Luis Barreto departs effective October 13, 2026. (Filing)

• SVRN (SVRN): Co-Chief Executive Officer Robert Perri resigns effective October 7, 2026. (Filing)

• Atlas Trinity Tech (ATTT): Chief Executive Officer Tim Hoi Ching steps down effective October 15, 2026. (Press Release)

• Erasca (ERAS): Chief Operating Officer Nicholas Chetwyn is terminated effective November 2, 2026, as part of a leadership realignment to streamline reporting. (Filing)

• Charter Communications (CHTR): Chief Commercial Officer Adam Ray departs effective October 12, 2026, in a termination without cause. (Filing)

• Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM): Chief Technology Officer James Bahrenburg steps down effective October 12, 2026. (Filing)

• Myomo (MYO): Chief Commercial Officer Micah Mitchell transitions out of the role effective October 12, 2026. (Press Release)

Our C-Suite Transitions tool includes over 10,000 management changes including appointments, departures and sudden departures.

If you enjoyed reading this Report, please do me the huge favor of pressing the “Like” button or sharing it with other investors interested in special situations.

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The content herein is informational and should not be relied upon as fact. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the content or data provided in this article. Do your own diligence before making any investment decisions.

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Market Cap: $22.46 B

Deal Value: $23.70 B

France’s Schneider Electric entered into a merger agreement on October 5, 2026, to acquire US software company PTC in a $23.70 billion deal, its biggest acquisition so far.

Like most traditional software companies, PTC and its direct competitor Autodesk (ADSK) were thrown out with the SaaSpoc…

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Market Cap: $1.47B

Enterprise Value: $3.74B

Introduction

About two months ago, we wrote an Insider Weekends article about Western Midstream Partners (WES): an MLP that develops, acquires, owns, and operates midstream assets (mostly pipelines that transport oil & gas from production facilities to refiners).

Over the past fe…

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1. Update on Developing M&A

2. Update on Shareholder Activism

3. Update on Other Special Situations

4. Announced M&A

5. C-Suite Sudden Departures

Powered by InsideArbitrage.

Update on Developing M&A

• Aurora (ACB): Curaleaf (CURLF) increased its offer for Aurora, under which shareholders would receive total implied consideration of $5 per Aurora share, comprising 0.4013 Curaleaf Shares plus $1 cash. This will extend the tender offer expiry from December 1, 2026, to December 4, 2026. In August, Curaleaf had offered $4 per share, comprised of 0.3463 shares plus $0.75 cash, which Aurora had rejected. (Press Release)

• CCC Intelligent Solutions (CCC): GTCR and Elliott Investment Management are in advanced talks to acquire car-insurance software provider CCC Intelligent Solutions. A deal could be announced as soon as next week. The company had started exploring a sale in July. (Bloomberg)

• Mattel (MAT): New Zealand’s billionaire Nick Mowbray could launch a rival bid for Mattel. Mowbray has enlisted Australian bankers to support his efforts. He owns consumer products manufacturer Zuru, known for products such as Robo Fish and Bunch O Balloons. Last week, Authentic Brands had approached the company first with a takeover offer. (The Australian)

• Pilgrim’s Pride (PPC): Formed a special committee to evaluate the unsolicited proposal received from JBS (JBS) to acquire the company. The special committee has selected Ropes & Gray as legal counsel and Moelis & Co as financial advisor to assist the special committee. In August, JBS offered a fixed exchange ratio of 2.086 JBS Class A common shares for each Pilgrim’s Pride share, pricing it at roughly $28.49 per share. (Press Release)

Rumors

• Caribou Biosciences (CRBU): Exploring strategic alternatives and plans to stop further development of its two CAR-T cell therapy programs, vispa-cel and CB-011. As a result, Caribou will reduce its workforce and cut costs. Caribou’s Board approved initiating a process to evaluate strategic alternatives, including a merger, acquisition, business combination, or other strategic transactions involving Caribou and/or its assets. Wedbush Securities has been engaged as the financial advisor to assist in the process. (Press Release)

• Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG): Starbucks (SBUX) has explored a takeover of Chipotle. Starbucks has worked with advisers in recent months on a takeover proposal for Chipotle. The status of Starbucks’ takeover plans and whether the company has submitted any formal offer to Chipotle could not be determined. A deal of this size might never get off the ground, and a tie-up could never materialise given the complexity of combining two consumer giants. (FT)

To access all rumors, a history of updates and the eventual outcomes, check out our Deals in the Works tool that includes data on over 9 years of developing M&A situations:

Update on Shareholder Activism

• Braemar Hotels & Resorts (BHR): Al Shams entered into a Cooperation and Settlement Agreement with the company, Ashford Hospitality Trust, and Ashford Inc. Al Shams has withdrawn the nomination notice and will have the opportunity to consult with the company’s search firm regarding candidates for one additional director seat. The Board retains sole discretion over the selection. Braemar has agreed to pay Al Shams $25 million plus expenses. (13D Filing)

• Evogene (EVGN): Entered into a cooperation agreement with L.I.A. Pure Capital and Invest Pro Shukai Hon to resolve all outstanding differences between the parties. Under the terms of the agreement, two current directors, Yael Margolin and Yoshinori Oikawa, who resigned from the Board, will be replaced by Pure Capital Group nominees Adi Zuluf-Shani and Oz Adler. (Press Release)

• Mattel (MAT): Ariel Investments, which has a 5.4% stake in Mattel, is calling for the toymaker to explore strategic alternatives, as the company deals with a sliding stock and now a chief executive transition. This comes after Roger Lynch took over as CEO, and Authentic Brands approached the company with a takeover offer. Southeastern Asset Management, with a 4% stake in the company, had also pushed for a sale in May. (WSJ)

• Snap (SNAP): Blue Duck Capital urged the Board to raise dedicated external capital for Specs asset from venture investors or a strategic partner without diluting shareholders. Blue Duck believes that doing so would unlock a potential re-rating that could more than double Snap’s share price to $12-14. Blue Duck argues that Snap’s costly Specs investment is obscuring the profitability and value of its core advertising and subscription business. Bringing in outside capital for Specs could fund its development, establish a standalone valuation for the asset, and potentially unlock a higher sum-of-the-parts valuation for Snap. (Press Release)

• UBS (UBS): CEO Sergio Ermotti said, “We believe being based in Switzerland is for the good of the Swiss economy,” when asked about activist calls to leave Switzerland. Artisan Partners had said in a letter to the board that Switzerland was no longer an attractive or desirable location for UBS. (CNBC Interview)

Our comprehensive Activists Tool includes current activist campaigns and all updates as the campaigns unfold: https://www.insidearbitrage.com/shareholder-activists-tool

Update on Other Special Situations

• Toro Corp. (TORO): Toro completed the spin-off of its LPG carrier business into AI OKTO CORP. (AIOK), transferring two vessels, Dream Arrax and Dream Vermax, along with $45 million in cash. Toro shareholders received one AIOK share for every eight TORO shares held as of the October 1 record date, and AIOK began trading on Nasdaq on October 9.

  • Toro retains its refined petroleum products tanker business and an interest in AIOK through 5 million Series A convertible preferred shares with an aggregate stated value of $25 million. Toro CEO Petros Panagiotidis also serves as Chairman and CEO of AIOK. (Press Release)

• Medtronic (MDT): Medtronic set the final exchange ratio for the MiniMed split-off at 4.5939 MMED shares for each MDT share accepted, the maximum permitted under the offer. Medtronic is offering 225.36 million MiniMed shares, representing about 80.1% of MiniMed’s outstanding shares, and if the offer is oversubscribed, it intends to exchange its remaining 27.45 million shares, potentially disposing of its entire 252.81 million-share MiniMed stake.

  • At the final ratio, Medtronic could accept approximately 49.06 million MDT shares, or up to 55.03 million MDT shares if it uses the additional MiniMed shares. The exchange offer expired on October 9, 2026, with final tender and proration results still pending. (Press Release)

• Flex (FLEX): Flex announced a $2 billion convertible preferred investment in its planned spin-off, Axiom Solutions International, led by General Catalyst and Koch Equity Development, giving the business an initial $37.5 billion enterprise valuation. Axiom will house Flex’s cloud and power infrastructure business, including the planned acquisition of EPC Power, with a focus on AI and data centers. The tax-free spin-off remains targeted for Q1 2027, with Axiom expected to list on Nasdaq under AXM. Flex may retain up to 19.9% of Axiom. (Filing)

  • Axiom filed its Form 10, and Flex plans to seek shareholder approval for spin-off-related proposals through a Schedule 14A proxy statement. (Filing)

You can view the full list of upcoming spinoffs including each update since the announcement of the spinoff in our Upcoming Spinoffs List.

Announced M&A

Target / Acquirer – Approximate Transaction Enterprise Value, Expected Closing

Healthcare

• Option Care Health (OPCH) / CD&R and McKesson (MCK) - $5.8 bn, H1 2027 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

• Pacira BioSciences (PCRX) / Viatris (VTRS) - $1.65 bn, 2026 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

Industrial

• RXO (RXO) / C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW) - $5.8 bn, H1 2027 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

Technology

• PTC (PTC) / Schneider Electric - $23.70 bn, Q3 2027 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

Check out a list of nearly 80 active mergers & acquisitions in our Merger Arbitrage Tool. Includes the ability to track specific deals, email alerts for new deals, real-time spreads, annualized returns, all merger updates and spread history charts.

Sudden Departures

“Sudden Departures” highlights executive exits announced with short notice, where the executive is expected to leave within 30 days. 

• Avient (AVNT): Chief Executive Officer Ashish K. Khandpur resigns effective October 7, 2026. (Filing)

• Abits Group (ABTS): Chief Executive Officer Conglin Deng is terminated effective October 6, 2026. (Filing)

• Fresenius Medical Care AG (FMS): Chief Executive Officer Helen Giza resigns effective October 12, 2026. (Filing)

• Mynd.ai (MYND): Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer Arthur Giterman resigns effective October 11, 2026. (Filing)

• Quantum (QMCO): Chief Financial Officer William H. White is terminated effective October 9, 2026. (Filing)

• Standard Motor Products (SMP): Chief Financial Officer Nathan R. Iles resigns effective October 30, 2026. (Filing)

  • Leaving to become CFO of another public company and to relocate closer to his family. Former SMP CFO James J. Burke returns as interim CFO.

• RB Global (RBA): Chief Financial Officer Eric J. Guerin resigns effective October 6, 2026, and Chief Operating Officer Steve Lewis resigns effective October 9, 2026. (Filing)

  • Their exits were announced as part of a broader organizational restructuring for RB Global’s “next phase of growth.”

• Luda Technology Group (LUD): Chief Financial Officer Yung Chi Man resigns effective October 5, 2026. (Filing)

• Ocean Power Technologies (OPTT): Chief Financial Officer Robert Powers resigns effective September 30, 2026. (Filing)

• Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE): Chief Financial Officer Robert M. Vreeland resigns effective October 6, 2026. (Filing)

• Insmed (INSM): Chief Financial Officer Sara Bonstein resigns effective October 30, 2026. (Filing)

  • She said she wants to pursue a broader leadership role after nearly seven years as CFO.

• Neighborhood Intelligence (NXH): Chief Financial Officer Brian LaRose resigns effective October 5, 2026. (Filing)

• HubSpot (HUBS): Chief Legal Officer Erika Fisher resigns effective November 6, 2026. (Filing)

• Gartner (IT): Chief Legal Officer Thomas Kim resigns effective October 16, 2026. (Filing)

• The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC): Global General Counsel and Corporate Affairs Officer Angel S. Willis resigns effective October 20, 2026. (Filing)

• Avery Dennison (AVY): Chief Legal Officer Ignacio J. Walker resigns effective October 16, 2026. (Filing)

• Skyworks Solutions (SWKS): General Counsel Robert Terry is terminated effective October 5, 2026. (Filing)

• HealthEquity (HQY): Chief Commercial Officer Michael Fiore is terminated effective October 5, 2026. (Filing)

• Vontier (VNT): Chief Transformation and Operations Officer Kathryn Rowen resigns effective October 16, 2026. (Filing)

• lululemon athletica (LULU): Chief Supply Chain Officer Ted Dagnese and Chief Brand and Product Activation Officer Nikki Neuburger resign effective November 6, 2026. (Filing)

  • Both are leaving to pursue other opportunities; for employment-agreement purposes, lululemon treats the departures as terminations without cause as part of a broader leadership restructuring.

• Portillo’s (PTLO): Chief People Officer Jill Waite is terminated effective November 1, 2026. (Filing)

• BARK (BARK): Principal Accounting Officer Brian Dostie resigns effective October 9, 2026. (Filing)

• Alkami Technology (ALKT): Chief Accounting Officer Prerna Sachdeva resigns effective November 2, 2026. (Filing)

• Omnicom Group (OMC): Chief Accounting Officer Andrew Castellaneta resigns effective October 1, 2026. (Filing)

• Box (BOX): Chief Accounting Officer Eli Berkovitch resigns effective October 23, 2026. (Filing)

Our C-Suite Transitions tool includes over 10,000 management changes including appointments, departures and sudden departures.

If you enjoyed reading this Report, please do me the huge favor of pressing the “Like” button or sharing it with other investors interested in special situations.

Share

The content herein is informational and should not be relied upon as fact. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the content or data provided in this article. Do your own diligence before making any investment decisions.

We pull up a list of insider purchases and sales for the week to identify a company or an insider we want to feature in the next edition of our Insider Weekends series. The back-and-forth as we debate whether an insider buy (or on rare occasions, a sale) is worth exploring in depth is particularly enriching.

But before we can start this little exercise, I aggregate and clean the data, then create the skeleton of what will become Sunday’s Insider Weekends article.

I briefly described part of this process in my article The $10 Billion Insider Purchase, where I wrote:

“There are a lot of weird things that happen with Form 4 filings and sometimes they are just outright wrong. Some companies realize their mistakes and file an amended Form 4 later, and some don’t. This is one of the reasons we clean the data before we calculate the Insider Sell/Buy Ratio every Saturday. We then read the footnotes of Form 4 filings before we pick companies that land on our list of top five insider purchases and sales in our weekly Insider Weekends articles.”

One week, when she had an exam or some other commitment, she asked me to take care of the entire process. Incidentally, that week we saw one of the largest open market insider purchases by an insider of Workday (WDAY), made by their new Co-CEO Carl Eschenbach.

Buy $2 Million in Stock, Get $5 Million in RSUs

Normally an insider purchase at a tech company, especially a $2 million open market purchase, would be interesting and could signal management’s confidence in the company. However, something about this purchase felt off to me, and that Sunday’s Insider Weekends article explored my hunch and how I found the money shot on page 4 of Carl Eschenbach’s employment agreement with Workday.

Here is what I wrote about that insider buy:

Additional Special RSUs: We finally get to the part of the employment agreement that explains the insider purchase. Mr. Eschenbach is entitled to another $5 million worth of RSU provided:

“you purchase shares of the Company’s common stock on the public market with a fair market value of Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000.00) within twelve (12) months following your Start Date”

And that is the money shot as to why he purchased shares on the open market. There are times when you can discover this kind of information by reading the footnotes of the form 4 filing but in this case, the footnotes of his form 4 filing did not specify this arrangement. It indicated that the stock was acquired through an established 10b5-1 plan and indirectly through a trust but made no reference to the “additional special RSUs”.

This is unlike the $5 million insider purchase by the new CEO of Pinterest (PINS) where his form 4 filing clearly specified the following in the first footnote:

“Purchased in connection with Mr. Ready’s employment agreement, pursuant to which the Company has agreed to grant Mr. Ready restricted shares of the Company’s Class A common stock following such purchase. The grant of such restricted shares has not yet been made.”

I would recommend checking out the employment agreement and the 8-K filed on December 20, 2022 for the various nuances tied to Mr. Eschenbach’s employment.

I’ve moved the full article outside our paywall and you can read it here.

Finding the Signal

This situation and the $10 billion insider purchase I alluded to in a different article illustrate why it is so hard to find actionable signals from the noise of insider data. In the early stages of their investing journey, folks often get excited by Peter Lynch’s oft-quoted observation:

“Insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.”

While that statement had some foundation in truth when it was first written, the signal faded over time for several reasons:

1. You no longer have to physically send someone to the SEC in Washington DC to get this information. In my early days of exploring insider transactions, I used to look forward to reviewing them in the Value Line binders at my local library on Saturdays. Form 4s are now filed electronically and are readily accessible as soon as they are filed through numerous websites including the Insider Buying and Insider Sellingpages on InsideArbitrage.

2. Insiders are aware that investors like you and me are looking at this data, and at times might decide to buy stock to signal confidence even when the fundamentals of the company don’t warrant such optimism.

3. The sheer volume of insider transactions combined with a growing volume of mistakes in filings increases the noise in the raw data.

4. You have to discard purchases related to company-sponsored plans (director compensation, employee stock purchase plans, etc.), dividend reinvestment plans, or in unusual circumstances provisions in an insider’s employment agreement.

Over the years, we have written a lot of code to help us filter out some of the noise. The rest of the process is still manual and involves reading filing footnotes, looking at past transactions, understanding what is driving the company’s fundamentals and assessing how macro/industry trends are likely to impact the company.

50 Ideas a Year

We end up writing about fascinating companies, such as the one that emerged from Dr. Jennifer Doudna’s lab and uses a gene silencing technique to help the liver remove more LDL (bad) cholesterol from your blood. Or we might feature an organ transplant company that uses a new method to transport organs instead of the old process of sticking the organ in what is essentially an icebox. Sometimes we write about A Magic Mushroom Trip, and at other times, it is just about running shoes.

With about 50 ideas generated like this in a single year, not all of them are immediately actionable but they do generate a useful watchlist. We view these Insider Weekends articles as the starting point of our research. Occasionally we dive deeper into the idea as a spotlight idea in one of our monthly special situations newsletters. That organ transplant company ended up getting the deep dive treatment, was added to our model portfolio, and then purchased shares for my personal portfolio after the newsletter was published.

The Amrize Insider Purchases

Speaking of ideas that are not yet actionable, I am reminded of repeated insider purchases at a building materials company called Amrize (AMRZ).

Amrize was spun out of the Swiss company Holcim on June 20, 2025. Its shares began trading at around $51 per share on June 23 but trades for just $36.50 as of October 8, 2026. Along the way, and all the way down, all manner of insiders kept buying stock. CEO, Chief Legal Officer, CTO, Chief People Officer, Chief Strategy Officer. You name the executive, and they were all buying.

We covered the spinoff in our July 2025 Special Situations Newsletter and last month covered the cluster buying in an Insider Weekends article. But just like Carl Eschenbach’s purchase of Workday shares didn’t sit right with me, there was something about these Amrize purchases that kept troubling me.

Neither did the company fundamentals nor did the macro environment line up with the enthusiasm insiders were exhibiting. What was even more surprising was that they weren’t just buying token amounts. The CEO purchased more than $2 million worth of stock in May of this year and then followed it up with another $1.27 million worth of stock last month through open market purchases.

I was also intrigued by Amrize because the legendary investor Chris Hohn, of The Children’s Investment Fund Management (TCI), recently added two construction materials companies Vulcan Materials (VMC) and Martin Marietta Materials (MLM) to TCI’s portfolio. These investments seemed uncharacteristic compared with some of TCI’s other major holdings like Visa (V), Moody’s (MCO) and Alphabet (GOOG).

Companies like Amrize, Vulcan Materials and Martin Marietta supply “aggregates”, such as crushed stones, sand and gravel as well as other construction materials like limestone, cement and concrete. Their quarries are often located close to major urban centers. Transporting heavy materials over long distances can be prohibitively expensive, creating local monopolies for nearly quarries. You can start to understand why Sir Christopher Hohn is interested in these companies.

However, the potential motivation for the Amrize insider purchases turned out to be even more interesting than Chris Hohn’s investment thesis for buying similar companies. As you can see from page 69 of the company’s proxy statement, insiders are required to own a certain amount of stock. The CEO must own shares worth 10 times his base salary, directors must own five times their cash retainer and other executives must own three times their salary. These ownership guidelines could help explain the persistent insider buying.

Once I discovered these ownership requirements, my interest in Amrize fell a little. However I was glad I got to learn about its business and that knowledge helped me appreciate TCI’s decision to add Vulcan Materials (VMC) and Martin Marietta Materials (MLM) to its portfolio.

Conclusion

We follow eight different strategies at InsideArbitrage and the magic starts to happen when we start to see the same names show up across these strategies (for example the spinoff of Amrize, followed by insider buying). This broad net helps us catch fish we might not otherwise see.

My favorite among these strategies remains insider purchases because of the sheer volume of new ideas it generates for us every week. Both the model portfolio and my personal portfolio have benefited from this discovery process.

Voluntary Disclosure: I hold long positions in Workday (WDAY), On Holding (ONON) and Transmedics (TMDX) as well as every stock in the model portfolio except for one.

Disclaimer: Please do your own due diligence before buying or selling any securities mentioned in this article. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the content or data provided in this article.

Market Cap: $4.44 B

Offer Value: $6 B

Mattel’s stock was on a rollercoaster ride last week. A CEO change followed by a takeover rumor helped the stock rebound after a dismal year that has seen it drop nearly 24%, even after including the jump in price last week.

Mattel is one of the world’s largest toy makers, with iconic brands t…

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Market Cap: $5.92B

Enterprise Value: $5.85B

Introduction and Insider Purchase:

A little over a year ago, we wrote an Insider Weekends article about Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (MDGL), a biopharmaceutical company focused on treating metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), a progressive liver disease that can le…

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1. Update on Developing M&A

2. Update on Shareholder Activism

3. Update on Other Special Situations

4. Announced M&A

5. C-Suite Sudden Departures

Powered by InsideArbitrage.

Update on Developing M&A

• 111 (YI): The Board has established a special committee, comprising three independent directors, Chairman Jian Sun, Nee Chuan Teo, and Jun Luo, to consider and evaluate the non-binding offer from co-founders, as well as other potential strategic alternatives the company may pursue. (Press Release)

• GoDaddy (GDDY): Gen Digital (GEN) CEO Vincent Pilette said he “can’t comment on rumors” when asked whether Gen Digital was buying GoDaddy. (LinkedIn Post)

• Mattel (MAT): Approached by Authentic Brands Group for a takeover that could value the Barbie maker at around $6 billion or more. Authentic Brands was discussing a takeover offer of more than $20 per share. (Reuters)

  • We wrote the following about Authentic Brands in a Merger Arbitrage Mondays article in August 2025:

    “Authentic will acquire 51% of Guess’ trademarks and other intellectual property, while the shareholder group—including brothers Maurice Marciano and Paul Marciano, Paul’s son Nicolai Marciano, and CEO Alberini—will retain 49%. The two Marciano brothers currently own 47% of the company, while Alberini owns a little more than 3%, giving the three of them combined control of over 50% of Guess.

    Authentic Brands, led by CEO Jamie Salter, has built a portfolio of more than 50 fashion, celebrity, and media brands through acquisitions. Its past deals include Dockers from Levi Strauss & Co. (LEVI), Champion from Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI), and Reebok from Adidas AG. Salter has indicated he may take the company public in 2026.”

Rumors

• Flux Power (FLUX): Solidion Technology (STI) said it intends to pursue the acquisition of Flux Power, offering an undisclosed price, which was below the company’s last closing price. Flux rejected the offer. (Press release)

• Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP): Investment bank Piper Sandler (PIPR) has been in talks to combine with advisory firm Perella Weinberg Partners. (WSJ)

• UBS (UBS): Several major foreign banks have expressed their interest in a possible merger or combination with Switzerland’s UBS. (Reuters, citing a Swiss newspaper, Blick)

• Xeris Biopharma (XERS): H Lundbeck has expressed interest in acquiring Xeris Biopharma, a commercial-stage drugmaker. (Bloomberg)

To access all rumors, a history of updates and the eventual outcomes, check out our Deals in the Works tool that includes data on over 9 years of developing M&A situations:

Update on Shareholder Activism

• Better Home & Finance Holding (BETR): Vishal Garg, founder and former chief executive officer of online mortgage firm Better Home & Finance, has received enough shareholder support to remove five board directors. Garg started a proxy challenge to gain control of the company after he was ousted as the CEO in August. (Bloomberg)

• Fiserv (FISV): Activist investor Jana Partners is urging Fiserv to more than double its planned cost cuts and use software firm Palantir’s (PLTR) products to speed up its own technology transformation program. (Reuters)

• H.B. Fuller (FUL): Ancora Holdings said it is now offering to pay as much as $1.4 billion in cash for H.B. Fuller’s building adhesives unit, after the chemical company’s board rejected its previous offer. (Press Release)

  • It was interesting to see a cluster of insider purchases at H. B. Fuller last week:

    

• Independence Realty Trust (IRT): Irenic Capital Management expressed its opposition to the proposed acquisition of Centerspace (CSR). The activist asked IRT to look for options, including a sale. (Press Release)

• MoneyHero (MNY): Jonathan Honig issued an open letter to the Board urging it to immediately explore strategic alternatives, including a potential sale of the company. (Press Release)

• People Inc. (PPLI): HighSage Ventures said that it supports a potential bid by MGM Resorts (MGM) to acquire People Inc. (13D Filing)

• UBS Group (UBS): The Artisan Partners Global Value Team and International Value Group said in a letter to the board that Switzerland is no longer an attractive or desirable location for UBS, and that the company should consider leaving the country. (Press Release)

Our comprehensive Activists Tool includes current activist campaigns and all updates as the campaigns unfold: https://www.insidearbitrage.com/shareholder-activists-tool

Update on Other Special Situations

• Corteva (CTVA): Corteva completed the spin-off of its seed business as Vylor (VYLR) on October 1, distributing 1 VYLR share for every 1 CTVA share held on the September 24 record date. Most of Corteva’s apparent 84% stock drop on the spin date was simply the value moving into Vylor. CTVA closed at $12.57 and VYLR at $68.26, for a combined $80.83 versus Corteva’s $77.65 pre-spin close. Vylor had about $10 billion of 2025 revenue and $3 billion of EBITDA, versus roughly $7.5 billion and $1.4 billion for the remaining crop-protection company. (Press Release)

  • The spin also came with a legal overhang, as 15 states and Guam sued Corteva over alleged PFAS liability shifting, although a federal judge had declined to block the separation. (Reuters)

• Modine (MOD): Modine completed the spin-off of its Performance Technologies business and combination with Gentherm (THRM) on October 1. MOD holders received 0.44619 THRM shares per MOD share held September 28, retained their MOD shares, and now own 43.62% of Gentherm. Modine received $156 million in cash to repay debt, while the transferred business was valued at about $946.4 million. Gentherm’s $2.07 special dividend goes only to existing THRM shareholders as of September 28. The remaining Modine will focus on data-center cooling, HVAC and refrigeration, plans to rename itself Modexus Solutions, and will keep the MOD ticker. (Press Release)

• KBR (KBR): KBR and Trinzic will hold separate Investor Days on November 11 and November 12, 2026, respectively. Trinzic is the planned spin-off of KBR’s Mission Technology Solutions business, which serves government, defense and space customers and is expected to have more than $5 billion in revenue and about 18,000 employees. Trinzic also filed its Form 10 on September 30, with the spin-off expected on January 4, 2027. (Press Release) (Form 10)

• Madison Square Garden Sports (MSGS): Madison Square Garden Sports approved the New York Rangers spin-off, with shareholders receiving 1 MSG Rangers (MSGR) share for every 2 MSGS shares held on the October 20 record date and distribution expected October 26. The remaining company will be renamed MSG Knickerbockers Corp. (MSGK) and retain the Knicks, while MSGR will own the Rangers business. (Filing)

  • Madison Square Garden Sports filed Amendment No. 4 to MSGS Spinco’s Form 10 on September 30, 2026. (Form 10-12B/A)

• Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP): Keurig Dr Pepper appointed Russ Torres as CEO of the future Global Coffee Co. He will join KDP on November 3, 2026, lead the Coffee Operating Unit and integration with JDE Peet’s, and become CEO of Global Coffee Co. upon the planned early-2027 separation. Tim Cofer will become CEO of the remaining Beverage Co. (Press Release)

• Flex (FLEX): Flex reiterated its planned tax-free spin-off of Axiom Solutions International, its cloud and power infrastructure business. Axiom has filed its Form 10, and Flex plans to seek shareholder approval for spin-off-related proposals through a Schedule 14A proxy statement. (Filing)

You can view the full list of upcoming spinoffs including each update since the announcement of the spinoff in our Upcoming Spinoffs List.

Announced M&A

Target / Acquirer – Approximate Transaction Enterprise Value, Expected Closing

Financial Services

• Capital Bancorp (CBNK) / Peoples Bancorp (PEBO) - $728.10 mn, H1 2027 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

Healthcare

• Lifecore Biomedical (LFCR) / Webster Equity Partners - $663.7 mn, Q4 2026 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

Technology

• Sangoma Technologies (SANG) / BRC Group (RILY) - $204 mn, Early 2027 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

• SoundThinking (SSTI) / Transom Capital Group - $159 mn, Q4 2026 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

Check out a list of nearly 80 active mergers & acquisitions in our Merger Arbitrage Tool. Includes the ability to track specific deals, email alerts for new deals, real-time spreads, annualized returns, all merger updates and spread history charts.

Sudden Departures

“Sudden Departures” highlights executive exits announced with short notice, where the executive is expected to leave within 30 days. 

• MongoDB (MDB): President and CEO Chirantan “CJ” Desai resigned effective September 28, 2026. He left to take a senior role at Meta; former CEO Dev Ittycheria returned as interim CEO. (Filing)

  • We will discussing this departure in more detail in Episode 71 of The Special Situations Report podcast on Monday.

• Mattel (MAT): CEO Ynon Kreiz resigned effective October 2, 2026. (Filing)

  • He is joining the new Skydance, created after the merger of Paramount Skydance with Warner Bros., as its CO-CEO with David Ellison.

• Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX): Chief Medical Officer Sanjay Keswani’s employment terminated effective September 25, 2026. (Filing)

• Flutter Entertainment (FLUT): Chief Legal Officer Don Liu resigned effective September 30, 2026. (Filing)

• StandardAero (SARO): COO Kimberly Ernzen stepped down effective September 28, 2026. (Filing)

• Global-E Online (GLBE): Chief Revenue Officer Ran Fridman resigned effective October 1, 2026 to pursue another opportunity. (Filing)

• Achieve Life Sciences (ACHV): CFO Mark Oki stepped down effective October 5, 2026. (Filing)

• United States Antimony (UAMY): CFO Richard Isaak was terminated effective September 30, 2026. He had been on personal leave since May 4, with Shawn Winkler serving as interim CFO. (Filing)

• Evotec (EVO): Chief Scientific Officer Cord Dohrmann stepped down effective September 30, 2026 by mutual consent. (Filing)

• Carlsmed (CARL): CFO Leo Greenstein resigned effective September 25, 2026. (Filing)

• Gain Therapeutics (GANX): Principal Financial Officer Gianluca Fuggetta resigned effective September 30, 2026. (Filing)

• Jasper Therapeutics (JSPR): CFO Herb Cross resigned effective October 9, 2026. (Filing)

• Surf Air Mobility (SRFM): CFO Oliver Reeves stepped down effective September 30, 2026. (Filing)

• Seritage Growth Properties (SRG): COO Eric Dinenberg’s employment ended effective September 30, 2026. (Filing)

• Arrive AI (ARAI): COO Mark Hamm resigned effective October 2, 2026. (Filing)

• La Rosa Holdings (LRHC): CEO and Interim CFO Joseph La Rosa resigned effective October 1, 2026 for personal reasons. (Filing)

Our C-Suite Transitions tool includes over 10,000 management changes including appointments, departures and sudden departures.

If you enjoyed reading this Report, please do me the huge favor of pressing the “Like” button or sharing it with other investors interested in special situations.

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The content herein is informational and should not be relied upon as fact. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the content or data provided in this article. Do your own diligence before making any investment decisions.

A few months ago, I was talking with a friend about how unlikely it was that the market would let this bubble deflate until SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic went public. SpaceX went public in June, and Anthropic confidentially filed an S-1 the same month. Reuters apparently got its hands on the IPO documents, and rumored numbers include a …

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One of these projects was very ambitious and one of our developers recently burned through 380 million tokens in a few weeks, depositing a small chunk of change into Anthropic’s coffers. While that project is yet to come to fruition, here are some quick notes from the latest InsideArbitrage release, which includes our redesigned Insider Buying page, the inclusion of modifiable peers in our quote pages and an enhanced My Portfolio feature that allows you to receive an AI summary about your portfolio by email every Saturday.

Insider Buying and Selling

Earlier this week I was excited to see an insider purchase come through at one of the world’s largest derivatives marketplaces, The CME Group (CME). An independent director buying stock on the open market is often a strong signal, especially if he has served on the board since 1997 and has been a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for more than 45 years.

When I pulled up the Form 4 filing, my excitement plunged. The buy was not an open market purchase. It was instead a broker-administered dividend reinvestment and you can see this in footnote 2 of the filing.

This is exactly the kind of transaction that can look bullish in a raw insider feed but is not actually an opportunistic insider buy.

This is one of many reasons I have been closely reviewing the actual Form 4s filed with the SEC and their footnotes almost every weeknight for the last 16 years. Here are a few things we have noticed with insider purchases that make it difficult to distill the signal from the noise if you are looking at these transactions only at a surface level:

• The insider purchasing shares is simply moving stock from one account to another for estate planning purposes (Globalstar)

• The insider is selling one class of shares to buy a different class that either provides more voting power (First Citizens Bancshares) or a better dividend (Greif)

• The insider purchase is not a real purchase but is a sale that was erroneously filed as a buy. I discussed a filing with the COO of a company at an investor conference and walked him through why I felt that his purchase was most likely a sale. He acknowledged the mistake and asked the company to file an amended Form 4 to fix the problem.

• The purchase is not an opportunistic buy but part of an established 10b5-1 plan where the insider will buy consistently over a period of several weeks or months (Navios Maritime)

• Instead of filing the purchase within two business days of the trade, the filing is weeks, months or in some cases, several years late

• The company has set up programmatic purchases (Employee Stock Purchase Plans, Director Compensation Plans, etc.)

• The purchases are of preferred shares instead of common stock, or, in some cases, both preferred and common share purchases are in the same filing (Liberty Latin America)

Our redesigned Insider Buying and Insider Selling pages on InsideArbitrage surface many of these nuances immediately, so you can spend less time opening Form 4s and more time focusing on the purchases that may actually matter.

Our new pages now include legends right below the company name that call out that the insider buying is part of a cluster of purchases by multiple insiders within a 30 day period, whether the filing has been amended, whether the purchase is part of a 10b5-1 plan, whether the purchase was filed late and more. You can see this in action below or check it out on our Insider Buying page.

We also made it easier to search for specific companies or insiders as well as filter the list based on CEO purchases, CFO purchases, high value purchases (over $1 million) and a whole lot more.

Peer Comparison ($)

When we are evaluating a new merger arbitrage idea, buyback candidate or special situation, one of the first things we want to know is how the company compares with the businesses investors are actually valuing alongside it. The new Peers tab on our quote pages lets paying subscribers build that comparison set themselves instead of being stuck with a generic peer group.

The updated peer list is “sticky” and does not revert back to the default for logged-in subscribers. Here is a small list of peers I created for the coffee chain Dutch Bros. (BROS).

AI Summary of My Portfolio ($)

The My Portfolio Plus feature, which we launched in August 2024 to allow you to create your own portfolios and receive alerts by email about SEC filings, valuation thresholds, etc. has been enhanced. Subscribers can now see news and a curated list of SEC filings (8-K, 10-K, 10-Q, 13D, etc.) related to their portfolios at the bottom of the portfolio.

If there are less than 20 stocks in the portfolio, you can also see an AI generated summary of the portfolio with a look back period of one week, two weeks or one month. For investors following dozens of positions, keeping up with every filing and company-specific development can become a job of its own. The new AI portfolio summary pulls together the most important developments across your holdings and can deliver them to your inbox every Saturday.

While frontier AI models have improved a lot over the last two years, they still continue to hallucinate. During our multiple rounds of testing, we found in one instance that the AI fabricated an earnings report and in another instance falsely claimed that the Fed had recently cut interest rates. Through careful model selection, curated prompts and other techniques, we have reduced the number of hallucinations but as they teach new managers: “trust but verify”.

Despite these drawbacks, I personally found the AI summary very useful and we plan to continue iterating on this feature to improve the reliability of the AI summary.

If you are already using InsideArbitrage to track insider activity, special situations or your portfolio, these updates are designed to help you get to the important information faster and filter out more of the noise.

Free subscribers can try the new AI portfolio summary through the end of the year. Paying subscribers also get access to editable peer comparisons and the broader set of premium tools across the platform.

You can explore the new features today, and if they save you even a few hours of research each month, upgrading may quickly pay for itself. You can check out our subscription plans here.

We have some exciting new features and a completely new vertical currently in development that we plan to release in Q1 2027.

Disclaimer: I hold long positions in Globalstar and Liberty Latin America Series A preferreds. Please do your own due diligence before buying or selling any securities mentioned in this article. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the content or data provided in this article.

Market Cap: $77.37 B

Deal Value: $110 B

When we’d written about the Paramount Skydance (PSKY) – Warner Bros. Discovery merger a month ago, we’d said that a settlement with the 12 states and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which had sued to block the merger, “looked imminent.” But honestly, we had not expected …

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Market Cap: $12.77B

Enterprise Value: $8.70B

Introduction

Nearly four years ago, we wrote the following in a December 2022 Buyback Wednesdays article:

Investors that missed an opportunity to invest in companies like Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Costco (COST), and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) are always on the lookout for t…

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1. Update on Developing M&A

2. Update on Shareholder Activism

3. Update on Other Special Situations

4. Announced M&A

5. C-Suite Sudden Departures

Powered by InsideArbitrage.

Update on Developing M&A

• Alkami Technology (ALKT): The Board concluded a comprehensive review of strategic opportunities and decided not to sell the company. (Press Release)

• Aurora Cannabis (ACB): Filed an application with the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) for an order requiring Curaleaf (CURLF) to address several deficiencies Aurora has identified in its hostile bid Circular and to require Curaleaf to comply with securities law requirements. (Press Release)

• BARK (BARK): GNK Holdings announced that it is evaluating a potential cash tender offer to acquire shares of BARK common stock at a price of $11 per share in cash. (Press Release)

• MGM Resorts International (MGM): People Incorporated (PPLI) announced it has withdrawn its proposal to purchase all public shares of MGM Resorts. (Press Release)

Rumors

• Adagio Medical (ADGM): The Board has initiated a formal process to explore strategic alternatives focused on maximizing shareholder value. (Press Release)

• GoDaddy (GDDY): Gen Digital (GEN), the maker of Norton 360 antivirus software, has made a takeover offer for web domain provider GoDaddy. (FT)

To access all rumors, a history of updates and the eventual outcomes, check out our Deals in the Works tool that includes data on over 9 years of developing M&A situations:

Update on Shareholder Activism

• Cheetah Net Supply Chain Service (CTNT): Natasha Ovsepyan, Managing Member of Takeover Time 2026, said she is deeply dissatisfied with the company’s recent actions and the substantial dilution imposed on existing shareholders. (13D Filing)

• Devon Energy (DVN): Activist hedge fund Toms Capital Management sent a letter earlier this month to Devon Energy urging the Houston-based oil and gas company to review strategic alternatives, including a sale. (CNBC)

• Knife River (KNF): Activist investor Starboard Value has taken a significant stake in construction company Knife River, with plans to push the company to improve its margins or explore a sale. (WSJ)

• Six Flags Entertainment (FUN): Activist hedge fund Jana Partners is urging theme-park operator Six Flags to explore a sale. (WSJ)

• Vertical Aerospace (EVTL): Mudrick Capital Management said it intends to exercise its rights to remove two directors nominated by MCM (JK Brown and Carsten Stendevad) and to nominate five additional directors. (13D Filing)

• Voya Financial (VOYA): Lost its bid to block activist investor Toms Capital Investment Management from conducting a non-binding shareholder referendum on the performance of the retirement manager’s executives and directors. (Press Release)

Our comprehensive Activists Tool includes current activist campaigns and all updates as the campaigns unfold: https://www.insidearbitrage.com/shareholder-activists-tool

Update on Other Special Situations

• Corteva (CTVA): Vylor filed its final information statement for the October 1 spin-off from Corteva, confirming a 1-for-1 share distribution before 9:30 a.m. ET. The transaction is intended to be tax-free, and Vylor is expected to begin NYSE trading under VYLR the same day. (Information Statement)

  • Corteva said the SEC declared Vylor’s Form 10 effective, clearing a key step toward the October 1 spin-off. (Filing)

• Medtronic (MDT): Medtronic updated the MiniMed exchange-offer website, showing an indicative exchange ratio of 4.5939 MiniMed shares per Medtronic share, with the exchange offer’s upper limit currently in effect. The exchange offer remains scheduled to expire on October 9, 2026. (Filing)

  • Medtronic filed an investor presentation related to the MiniMed split-off, providing additional business, pipeline, and financial information on MiniMed. (Investor Presentation)

• Madison Square Garden Sports (MSGS): MSGS SpinCo filed Amendment No. 3 to its Form 10 for the planned Madison Square Garden Sports spin-off. The company will be renamed MSG Rangers Corp. before distribution and plans to list its Class A shares on the NYSE. (Form 10-12B/A)

• Toro (TORO): Toro set October 1 as the record date for the spin-off of its LPG carrier business, AI OKTO, with distribution expected around October 8. Shareholders will receive 1 AI OKTO share for every 8 Toro shares held. (Filing)

• KBR (KBR): KBR appointed Michael LaRouche as CEO-Designate of Trinzic, its planned Mission Technology Solutions spin-off, expected to launch on January 4, 2027. Trinzic will have more than $5 billion in revenue and about 18,000 employees. Gabe Butler will join as VP-Designate of Investor Relations ahead of Trinzic’s inaugural Investor Day on November 12. (Press Release)

You can view the full list of upcoming spinoffs including each update since the announcement of the spinoff in our Upcoming Spinoffs List.

Announced M&A

Target / Acquirer – Approximate Transaction Enterprise Value, Expected Closing

Basic Materials

• Vista Gold (VGZ) / Artemis Gold (ARGTF) - $427 mn, Q1 2027 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

Financials

• Marygold (MGLD) / Madison Dearborn Partners - $80.78 mn, H1 2027 (Press Release)

Technology

• Priority Technology (PRTH) / CEO Thomas Priore - $1.6 bn, H1 2027 (Press Release, Merger Agreement)

Check out a list of nearly 80 active mergers & acquisitions in our Merger Arbitrage Tool. Includes the ability to track specific deals, email alerts for new deals, real-time spreads, annualized returns, all merger updates and spread history charts.

Sudden Departures

“Sudden Departures” highlights executive exits announced with short notice, where the executive is expected to leave within 30 days. 

• Angi (ANGI): Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Kip resigns effective September 24, 2026. (Filing)

• Beacon Financial (BBT): President and Chief Executive Officer Paul A. Perrault retires effective September 21, 2026. (Filing)

• BitGo (BTGO): Chief Operating Officer Jody Mettler resigns effective October 16, 2026. (Filing)

• CNX Resources (CNX): Chief Financial Officer Everett W. Good resigns effective October 2, 2026. (Filing)

• CoreCivic (CXW): President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick D. Swindle resigns effective September 24, 2026, due to health reasons. (Filing)

• Fiserv (FISV): Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Legal Officer Adam L. Rosman resigns effective September 30, 2026. (Filing)

• Houlihan Lokey (HLI): General Counsel Christopher M. Crain transitions effective September 16, 2026. (Filing)

• MasterBrand (MBC): Chief Digital and Technology Officer Navi Grewal resigns effective October 15, 2026. (Filing)

• Nutanix (NTNX): President and Chief Commercial Officer Tarkan Maner resigns effective October 2, 2026. (Filing)

• Pedevco (PED): President and Chief Executive Officer Douglas Schick transitions effective September 21, 2026. (Filing)

• Turning Point Brands (TPB): President and Chief Executive Officer Graham Purdy resigns effective September 30, 2026, for personal reasons. (Filing)

• United Parks & Resorts (PRKS): Chief Commercial Officer Christopher Finazzo resigns effective September 25, 2026. (Filing)

Our C-Suite Transitions tool includes over 10,000 management changes including appointments, departures and sudden departures.

If you enjoyed reading this Report, please do me the huge favor of pressing the “Like” button or sharing it with other investors interested in special situations.

Share

The content herein is informational and should not be relied upon as fact. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the content or data provided in this article. Do your own diligence before making any investment decisions.

Market Cap: $2.59 B

Deal Value: $7.70 B

Michael Dell’s family office and Sequence Holdings teamed up to acquire insurance brokerage Baldwin Group in an all-cash deal valued at $7.70 billion.

The deal reflects a growing shift toward private ownership to finance AI-led transformation. Operating outside public m…

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