Elliott takes almost $2b stake in Southwest, WSJ reports

Elliott Investment Management has built an almost $2b stake in Southwest and plans to push for changes at the US carrier, the Wall Street Journal reported. The size of the holding makes the activist firm one of the largest investors in Dallas-based Southwest, the Journal reported Sunday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Elliott plans to engage with management at Southwest, which has a market capitalization of $16.6b. Shares of Southwest, which closed Friday at $27.75, are down 45% over the past five years. That compares with an 8.4% decline at Delta and an 86% increase in the S&P 500 index. Representatives for Elliott and Southwest didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Bloomberg on Sunday evening. Led by Paul Singer, Elliott is one of the world’s most active boardroom agitators. The firm had already launched campaigns at companies with a combined market value of about $100b this year — including at UK-listed miner Anglo American Plc and Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp.<br/>