Steel Partners II LP is one of the most well-known activist hedge funds in the market today ran by 40-year-old Warren G. Lichtenstein, founder and principal of the billion dollar hedge fund. Through the years, the fund has built a track record of success through hostile takeovers and proxy battles. Like most activist funds, Steel Partners is simply attempting to give shareholders the money and rights that they deserve by replacing inefficient management and streamlining processes/spending.

In rare talk with Business Week last year, Mr. Lichtenstein offered some insight into his funds purpose and goals. He first noted that he thinks of Steel Partners more as a partnership that hedges itself by "buying cheap" than a stereotypical hedge fund. That is, instead of dealing in trading securities, he prefers to deal in terms of the companies they represent. Steel Partners has typically focused on finding undervalued companies (typically due to bad management) and unlocking that value. This usually involves replacing the Board, firing the responsible persons, and then unlocking the company's potential. Mr. Lichtenstein also told Business Week that he offered something management couldn't: Discipline. He said that his fund is focused on empowering people and held them accountable for their actions - something that corporate management these days struggles with. Finally, he revealed that his future plans are to focus his energy on larger companies with billion dollar market caps, because he finds them less risky despite being "riddled with inefficiencies and excessive costs".

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