For the second time in two years, the director nominees of Biglari Holdings (NYSE: BH) have been rejected by the shareholders of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. (NASDAQ: CBRL).  Biglari currently owns approximately 18% of the outstanding Cracker Barrel shares and is the company’s largest shareholder.  However, a superior stock performance and a more focused management appeared to trump valid arguments presented by Biglari.

It is unclear what the next move for Sardar Biglari will be in this ongoing battle, but there is little doubt he has left his mark on the company.  What is clear, Mr. Biglari has already lined up his next target, Unico American Corp. (NASDAQ: UNAM).

Unico is an insurance holding company that primarily offers property and casualty insurance mainly through its subsidiary, Crusader Insurance Company.  Crusader is licensed as an admitted insurance carrier in the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.  However, the company notes that since 2004 all of the policies written by Crusader have been in the state of California.

Unlike Cracker Barrel, Biglari is not [click to continue…]

When a company reports earnings it normally leads with revenues and profits (or losses) for that period, but that was not the case for the MFC Industrial Ltd (NYSE: MIL) third quarter report.  This burgeoning global supply chain management company led with what was an astounding increase in assets and book value.

Digging deeper into the report, it is revealed the company completed a previously announced takeover of Compton Petroleum Corporation.  The total cost of this acquisition to MFC was approximately $32 million.  According to earlier reports, Compton had a book value of approximately $224 million when last reported on June 30, 2012.  Compton was acquired by MFC at a price that was substantially [click to continue…]

On the morning of November 12, 2012, it was announced that Leucadia National Corporation (NYSE: LUK) would acquire Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF) in an all-stock transaction.  According to the release, Jefferies shareholders are to receive 0.81 of a share of Leucadia valuing Jefferies at approximately $3.6 billion at the time of the announcement.

This transaction did not really come as much of a surprise since Leucadia already owned approximately 28.6% of Jefferies outstanding shares.  However, it was the third paragraph of the press release that contained what may have been the true reason for the merger. [click to continue…]

On the same day Hurricane Sandy came to shore to pound New Jersey, New York and other eastern states, Wabash National Corporation (NYSE: WNC) announced its intention to manufacture the DuraPlate Foldable Mobile Shelter.  The product has many uses including temporary shelter for natural disasters, military operations, humanitarian aid and temporary office space.

What makes this product especially suitable for natural disasters is its modularity and ease of transport.  The assembled product is a 16 by 8 foot structure.  However, the product can be broken down and folded flat to a height of only 16 inches.  According to the company [click to continue…]

Much has been written about Sardar Biglari and his firm Biglari Holdings (NYSE: BH).  It seems the investment community either loves him or hates him.  Based on many articles I have read, there are several authors that take issue with Mr. Biglari and his methods.  However, since being elected to the board of Steak ‘n Shake (now Biglari Holdings) investors have been reasonably rewarded.  In addition, many have compared Mr. Biglari with the much beloved [click to continue…]

Exiting investments is nothing new for Leucadia National Corporation (NYSE: LUK).  Over the years, Leucadia has been in and out of several different businesses and equity investments.  Whether coincidental or by design, Leucadia has recently been in liquidation mode.

In the first quarter of this year, Leucadia sold 100 million shares of its approximately 130.5 million remaining shares in Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) for $506.5 million.  This was after the company sold 117.4 million Fortescue shares in 2011 for $732.2 million.  During July 2012, the company sold its remaining position for $152.9 million.

In addition to its common stock holdings in Fortescue, Leucadia recently redeemed [click to continue…]

Earlier this month it was announced that Kennedy Wilson (NYSE: KW) was in the running to acquire at least portion of approximately $2.6 billion in loans that are predominantly backed by Irish real estate.  The loans are being sold by Lloyds Banking Group Plc (NYSE: LYG).  According to an article published by Bloomberg, the sale is part of the Irish unit Lloyds purchased four years ago in connection with its takeover of HBOS Plc.  Two years after this acquisition Lloyds made the decision to shut down the Irish unit and reportedly has taken impairment charges of $18.9 billion since the collapse of the Irish real estate market.  According to information gathered by Bloomberg from Investment Property Databank, Ltd., commercial real estate prices in Ireland are down approximately 67% and residential prices have dropped 50% since peaking in 2007.

This is not the first time at bat in Ireland for Kennedy Wilson.  In June 2011, the company acquired the real estate investment management business of [click to continue…]