UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) has been facing a sort of midlife crisis lately just after new chief executive Marcel Rohner took the reins and promised to keep the current strategic direction of the company intact. The company has been experiencing problems with its investment bankers that some are speculating could result in a spin-off or sale of the division, which would transform the company into an asset management pure play.

The financial services company's problems with its investment bankers stem from a blowup of a hedge fund within the company that eventually led to ex-CEO Peter Wuffli and several high profile bankers leaving the company. Putting the ex-head of the wealth management and private banking segment in charge after didn't help much either. In the end, the whole ordeal is casting serious doubt as to whether or not UBS can retain its best investment bankers with what has become a second-rate program.

Meanwhile, any spin-off or sale would be welcome news for shareholders and investors who are well aware that an asset management pure play UBS could fetch a multiple of 20x while investment banking typically only trades at 10x. It is also worth noting that UBS's asset management business produces a full 25 percent more each year in profit than its investment banking business.

Specifically, many shareholders and investors are hoping for a sale of the investment banking division (with the proceeds returned to shareholders via a buyback or special dividend) which would result in the 20x multiple pure play. This would solve both the company's internal problems with their investment bankers along with valuation issues they face by providing two services that trade at such varied multiples. Whether or not this materializes remains to be seen; however, UBS is definitely a stock to keep an eye on!

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Reddy Ice Holdings (NYSE:FRZ) shares moved up $0.07, or 0.23%, to $31.01 today after the Shamrock Activist Value Fund disclosed another letter challenging the board to reconsider a planned buyout by GSO Capital Partners. The activist hedge fund continues to oppose the transaction, calling it grossly inadequate, and has finally garnered some support.

The packaged ice distributor announced the $1.1 billion - or $31.25 per share - buyout deal with GSO Capital in early July and immediately drew shareholder criticism. Regardless, the company quickly moved to approve the transaction which is set to close in the fourth quarter. Many shareholders are concerned that management buyout bonuses and other incentives may be clouding the board's judgment at the expense of shareholders.

The Shamrock Activist Value Fund announced today another interesting piece to the story. The hedge fund uncovered the fact that the company appears to be abandoning its duty to maximize shareholder value by minimizing opposition to the buyout bid. This is being done by encouraging certain large shareholders to speak directly with GSO Capital about rolling their FRZ shares into the GSO leveraged buyout transaction instead of tendering them for cash. Clearly, this is unfair to smaller shareholders that represent the majority ownership in the company!

Shamrock insists that the company should immediate abandon the proposed buyout transaction and instead institute a share buyback at $33 per share to allow apathetic shareholders to exit the stock while allowing existing shareholders to retain their stake. The current game management is playing of "buying off" support for the transaction is simply unfair and unethical - a clear breach of the board's duty to serve shareholders as a whole. While Shamrock still faces an uphill battle, this is definitely a story worth following!

The second times a charm for Dice Holdings (NYSE:DHX) who went public again yesterday after emerging from its 2004 bankruptcy. The website operator raised $217 million after it priced at $13/share - the top of its expected range. The IPO was especially rewarding for the company's two private equity backers, General Atlantic and Quatrangle Group, who stand to make roughly 2.7x their money in two years. Meanwhile, some investors remain skeptical as to the long-term viability of the company.

Dice Holdings initially went public back in 1998 at the peak of the dot-com boom only to end up in bankruptcy courts five years later. Since then the company has improved substantially with $83.7 million in revenues in 2006 compared to $32.2 million in 2004. The company plans to use the proceeds from its second more successful IPO to pay off more than $190 million in debt and fund general business expenses.

The real story, however, is in the private equity funds that successfully executed a bankruptcy play. The two funds formed Dice Holdings in August of 2005 and bought the company for pennies on the dollar - $138.6 million. Amazingly, they recouped most of this cost in a $107.9 million dividend payout in March. This means they are still holding shares at an adjusted purchase price of just over $18 million, putting their cost per share at around 40 cents! Perhaps this is something to consider the next time a private equity fund makes a bid for one of your stocks that seems to be underperforming in the short-term...

In the end, the long-term viability of Dice remains uncertain as their primary business is in their employment portal, Dice.com. Ideally, the company will be able to use these proceeds to pay off its debts and build itself into a cash cow that may be attractive to other larger employment portals like Monster.com (NDAQ:MNST) or even some technology-related newspapers. Combined, these factors make DHX a stock worth watching!