bloggingbuyouts

At long last, there is a whole book about the activist hedge fund managers who create some of the most interesting headlines in the financial press: guy like Dan Loeb, who sends letters to CEOs urging them to "Retreat to your waterfront mansion", and attaches them to SEC filings.

TheDeal.com's Ronald D. Orol brings us Extreme Value Hedging, a 338-page opus on activist investing that is a heck of a lot more interesting than its title makes it sound.

Through interviews with activist investors, traditional money managers, and even executives at target companies, Orol looks at how activists are changing the corporate landscape and making corporations more accountable to their outside investors.

He also looks at the future of activist investing, including forays into Japan and the Ukraine. Orol also predicts that blogs and YouTube will induce activist investors and corporate executives to take their battles to the internet, and may give retail investors a voice that we've never had. I've actually given this a try with my BloggingActivist series. Who knew I was on the cutting edge?

Extreme Value Hedging is probably longer than most readers will want, but it's a surprisingly entertaining read if you want to understand this phenomenon, and how it's impacting our investments.