Packeteer Inc. (NDAQ:PKTR) shares moved up marginally today after Chapman Capital disclosed a 9.9 percent stake in the company and demanded that the company immediately hire an investment bank to maximize shareholder value. The wireless application provider has been facing widespread criticism since posting a wide loss during the second quarter of this year. Shareholders are hoping that Chapman can help unlock value through a sale of the company.

Activist investor Robert Chapman is well known for actively seeking to turn around or force the sale of the companies in which he is involved. He is also known for not being especially patient - and Packeteer's board may have pushed the envelope. In his letter to the company, Chapman noted that both the CEO and CFO failed to return his calls or respond to his inquiries and demanded that both be immediately fired. After all, Chapman is one of the largest owners of the company with a 9.9% stake!

Any investment bank will likely recommend one of several actions. The most anticipated action is a sale of the company to a strategic or financial buyer. Another possibility would be a leveraged recapitalization of the company that would enable shareholders to seek immediate returns in the form of one-time dividends or share buybacks. Either way, these actions would result in a windfall for shareholders. And given Chapman's reputation and large stake in this company, we think there is a decent chance that the company will eventually take action and hire and investment banker to explore its options. This makes PKTR a stock worth watching!

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Activist investor Robert Chapman is betting big on Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (NDAQ:NABI) while pressuring the company to implement a three step plan aimed at maximizing shareholder value. Chapman's hedge fund revealed a 9.4 percent stake in the company with several large purchases made throughout the month of July. Investors are carefully watching this situation as any successful initiative to maximize shareholder value could pay some large dividends!

Chapman's proposed plan would involve three steps: (1) Pursuing an FDA approval of Nabi's BLA for Nabi-HB Intravenous, (2) distributing the proceeds from a sale of Nabi Biologistics to shareholders, and (3) partnering/licensing Nabi's vaccine pipeline. Recently, the company announced that it the second of two planned strategic business units while eliminating 5 percent of its workforce (resulting in a $3.3 million annual savings). Widespread shareholder support and pressure ensure that the restructuring will continue on schedule.

"These and other actions recently taken by the company are designed to facilitate our strategic alternatives and partnership process that maximize the value of Nabi and our pipeline," said CEO Leslie Hudson.

Robert Chapman was also satisfied, commenting, "Unlike many of our activist targets, Nabi is not yet worthy of our disdain or disgust. The company has taken the necessary steps to prepare for its restructuring and recapitalization. Nabi has bifurcated itself into two strategic business units that facilitate the successful completion of its strategic alternatives process being overseen by Bank of America Securities, and has committed to reduce further its cost structure and cash burn. These developments give Chapman Capital confidence that Nabi CEO Leslie Hudson is a man of his word, with that word being "execution" and not the formerly insuperable one of "vision" (talk)."

In the end, shareholders will have to wait to see whether or not this turnaround is successful. However, given the involvement of such large and successful activist investors along with support of the company itself, NABI is certainly a stock to watch during the next few months!

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Ampex Corporation (NDAQ:AMPX) rejected a partial buyout offer from its largest shareholder late last week. The move comes after the company expressed interest in utilizing a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to better utilize its intellectual property. Shareholder are obviously looking for this proposal to materialize as it would mean a decent buyout premium.

ValueVest, who owns a 13 percent stake in the company, proposed the creation of a new company that would purchase all existing intellectual property rights, including the franchise, non-competing product manufacturing, and private-label rights to use the name Athena and all of the company's patents, copyrights, trade secrets and other intangible assets.

The new company would also enter into an agreement that would effectively transfer all management and economic rights of all existing licenses of the intellectual property to which no payments are currently being made. ValueVest agreed to provide $14 million in cash to fund the new company, with $7 million being used to acquire intellectual property. In return, the hedge fund required the right to 50 percent of the new company's net income.

While ValueVest's original proposal was rejected, they did leave the door open for suggestions to the company. Meanwhile, the company said it has to hear back about MCAM's valuation of its intellectual property in order to get an idea of just how much everything is worth. In the end, we could still see a deal materialize but it may take a little longer than expected. However, AMPX is still a stock worth watching!

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