(Bloomberg) -- Bluebell Capital Partners, the European activist investment firm, is shutting down its hedge fund after targeting high-profile companies from pharmaceutical giant GSK Plc to luxury conglomerate Richemont.
London-based Bluebell is returning capital to external investors from its co-mingled fund and will restructure the firm, co-founder Giuseppe Bivona said in response to Bloomberg queries Monday. It will continue to pursue its activist strategy through co-investments and advisory mandates, Bivona said.
The size of Bluebell’s fund wasn’t large enough to justify its administrative costs, according to Bivona. It traditionally managed €100 million ($105 million) to €200 million of assets, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
Bluebell made a name for itself in Europe investing in companies including German conglomerate Bayer AG, airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Italian banking group Mediobanca SpA. It’s also targeted dairy producer Danone, where it successfully engineered the removal of CEO Emmanuel Faber.
The firm sometimes worked with bigger funds to press for change, but not all of its campaigns have been successful. It has called for the ouster of BlackRock Inc. boss Larry Fink and demanded a shakeup at Richemont, which have largely been rebuffed. Some activist defense advisers have criticized Bluebell for pushing for changes without buying large stakes in its targets.
This year, Bluebell has pushed BP Plc to rethink its clean energy investments and called for Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc to separate its hygiene business.
Bivona co-founded Bluebell in 2019 with fellow finance industry veteran Marco Taricco and Francesco Trapani, who ran Italian jeweler Bulgari SpA for nearly three decades. Prior to that, the three spent years helping Elliott Investment Management, Jana Partners and other activists execute campaigns in Europe and the US.
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