Engine Capital Management

Engine Capital Management (Engine Capital) is a 100% employee-owned New York-based hedge fund manager that was founded in 2013. The firm is led by Arnaud Ajdler, an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School where he teaches a class on value investing at the Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing, a former senior managing director at Crescendo Partners where he managed a similar strategy. Engine Capital employs a long bias value-oriented special situations strategy that invests both actively and passively in companies changing. It follows a strict discipline of investing in companies that are prone to mispricing while focusing on limiting permanent losses of capital through prioritizing stable businesses with strong free cash flow generation, good balance sheets, and undemanding valuations. Investments are focused on the small- and mid-cap space where mispricings are more prevalent. On the activist side, the firm focuses on undermanaged companies where there exist multiple paths to unlock shareholder value through the active engagement of management teams and corporate boards. Its levers for value creation include operational improvements, changes to executive compensation, board refreshment, financial engineering, M&A, the pursuit of strategic alternatives, and the enhancement of corporate governance practices. It has negotiated board representation at seven US and two Canadian public companies, adding 18 board members to these companies.