RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:My head hurtsI tend to agree with ShockandAwww. I am sure that if he could, Mittleman would screw us all the way Perelman and Icahn have screwed minority investors in the past. However, we have to keep in mind that Mittleman Bros. does not really own those shares: they have direction and control over those shares, but they are managed accounts of individual investors. Those investors have suffered low returns for several years now. We have seen that Mittleman has had to file in Sedar loss of direction and control filings for about 3 million Aimia shares in the last few months: they used to control around 28 million and now control around 25 million. He didn't sell those shares: the investors simply pulled them out of his management.
So, he has less flexibility than a hedge fund owner does, and much less than an investor that owns shares outright. In their Q4 2018 letter to investors, the Mittlemans mentioned "difficult" telephone calls with some of their clients. I am sure that he must be under enormous pressure to show a big return and soon. And with almost a quarter of his managed assets being placed in Aimia (24.2%) , he is counting on Aimia to provide that boost. I don't think he could sell his investors on another 2 or 3 years of low share prices in order to work some diabolical scheme, even if he wanted to. I think his fastest and most realiable way to satisfy his antsy investors is to get the share price up, OR arrange for a sale of the entire company quickly.
Plus, we can't forget about Frischer. He owns less than 5%, but will be on the Board. Despite large holdings, he is not that removed from the position of a retail investor, and would raise holy hell if he saw that Mittleman doing something to damage the interests of the minority shareholders.