Paul Singer and Jesse Cohn may have waited too long just too many times for their favorite drink at Starbucks as the feared activists at Elliott showed up at the Seattle coffee giant. Lauren Thomas reported that Elliott has built a large position in Starbucks and held private meetings with the coffee maker regarding ways to potentially re-energize the company’s stock price.

Bloomberg’s Crystal Tse broke the news that Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management, wasting no time after its bruising loss to The Walt Disney Company, has amassed a significant stake in Solventum, the $9.4 billion healthcare spinoff of 3M, and is pushing for the company to de-lever and initiate a dividend. Reacting to the news, The Deal's Ron Orol suggested that Trian may face an uphill battle on a number of fronts, owing to, among other things, Solventum’s short life as a standalone company – it only separated from 3M in April.

Bernard Arnault is nothing if not opportunistic, particularly for luxury brands that may have hidden value. Reuters’ Anirban Sen revealed on Monday that the private equity firm L Catterton, backed by LVMH’s Arnault, has submitted a take-private bid to acquire Barbie owner Mattel. While the Barbie and Hot Wheels toymaker rejected the offer and asserted confidence in its go-forward strategy, as Bloomberg’s Thomas Buckley noted, Sen also hinted that other groups, including rival toymaker Hasbro, are considering potentials bid for Mattel.

More fun NYC events below.

Have a great weekend,

GPP team 

Financial Times: Lunch with the FT: Corporate Lawyer Faiza Saeed: ‘There’s a human element to all deals’

Faiza Saeed, presiding partner of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, reflects on her career over lunch at Le Bernardin with the FT’s Brooke Masters, sharing insights and learnings from working on major deals such as the AOL-Time Warner merger to her more recent engagements with Disney and Paramount. Read More

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Columbia Blue Sky Law School Blog: ISS Discusses the Quiet Relevance of Social Concerns, the S in ESG

Institutional Shareholder Services’ Tom Inchley discusses how the ‘S’ is often overlooked in comparison to environmental and governance concerns and highlights the significant risks companies face to their reputation in ignoring social factors such as employee rights and working practices. Read More

Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance: How Companies React to Say on Pay Failures

Equilar, Inc.’s Lucia Song details some of the changes companies make after failing to win say on pay votes, and the impacts they have. She finds that while a majority of companies are successful the second time around after making changes, there is no “golden rule” to ensure a passing vote from shareholders. Read More

M&A

The Wall Street Journal: Bosch to Buy Heating, Air-Conditioning Businesses From Johnson Controls, Hitachi for $8B

Pierre Bertrand reports that if completed, the deal will be Robert Bosch’s largest acquisition ever, expanding the German company’s footprint into HVAC. Read More

JP Morgan Making Sense Podcast: What’s The Deal? | Are Animal Spirits Driving M&A in the UK and EMEA?

Dwayne Lysaght and James Robinson, both senior JP Morgan M&A bankers, join the Making Sense Podcast to discuss the various forces driving the recent uptick in UK deals and why corporate boards and investment committees in Europe have renewed appetite to pursue dealmaking opportunities. Listen Here

IPO

Semafor: Inside Bill Ackman’s Last-Minute IPO Push: A Downsized Goal, A Big Ask, and Some Typos

Ahead of next week's IPO for Bill Ackman's Pershing Square USA, Liz Hoffman chronicles Ackman's unconventional eleventh-hour efforts to attract additional investors to the closed-end fund. Read More

The Verge: Wiz Rejects Google’s $23B Takeover in Favor of IPO

Jess Weatherbed reveals that fears over potential antitrust regulatory pushback influenced Alphabet’s decision to cease deal talks with Wiz, with the cybersecurity firm opting to pursue an IPO. Read More

Bloomberg: IPOs Finally Bring Summer Heat With $5.5B in Deals on Tap

Bailey Lipschultz examines whether the recent uptick in public offerings from companies such as Lineage Inc., Select Media Holdings and Concentra Group can potentially kick-start a revival of the U.S. IPO market. Read More

FROM OUR DESK TO YOURS

The 2024 Paris Summer Olympics officially begin today with the opening ceremony on the Seine River, which is also set to host several swimming events after a $1.5B cleaning expenditure from the French government. GPPers will be watching the events from this side of the pond with a glass of one of these New York Times recommended French wines in hand. We’re partial to glou glous and all of the recommended bottles are “thirst-quenching,” making them perfect for sipping on while sitting in the cheap seats at home. We’ll work our way through the list (quel dommage!) and will report back on some of our favorites.  

PEOPLE MOVES

• Centerview added former Lazard managing director Kathryn Hembree Night to lead the firm's activism defense unit. Read More
• Swiss wealth-manager Julius Baer named Goldman Sachs’ Stefan Bollinger the company’s next CEO. Read More
• Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, will step down after eleven years leading the organization’s mission-oriented investments. Read More

• August 1: Berkeley Law: Beyond Chevron: The SEC, Shareholder Activism, and Corporate Change, Virtual 

• Local NYC Events:
• August 2: Schomburg Center Opening Reception & Program: JIMMY! God's Black Revolutionary Mouth
• July 19 – September 6: Festival of Free Shakespeare in the Park
• July 22 – August 18: NYC Restaurant Week
• June 28 - August 10: Paramount+ Movie Nights in Bryant Park
• June 28 - August 17: Celebrate Brooklyn Concert Series in Prospect Park