Special Situation Investments – Low Risk Arbitrage Opportunities

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Investor community focused on low risk arbitrage opportunities and SPACs with short term catalysts

Focus on SPACs,
Special Situations

We cover low risk arbitrage opportunities with short term catalysts all around the globe.

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We aim to enhance your due diligence by providing actionable ideas backed by high quality and in-depth research.

Track Record

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Actionable Investment Research

We focus on special situations and risk arbitrage opportunities with short term catalysts. Our research database includes SPACs, merger arbitrage, tender offers, spin-offs, split-offs, liquidations, bankruptcies, going private transactions, rights offerings and many other types of situations.

High Quality Research

Research reports on every case are backed by in-depth analysis with clearly defined catalysts, valuation targets, upside opportunities and downside risks.

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Global Coverage

In 2020 so far, over 120 investing opportunities have been published on Special Situation Investments already. The scope includes and covers companies listed in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and other markets.

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Exclusive Access

Access to currently actionable special situation ideas is limited to members only. Previous cases are free to view for all website visitors.

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- High Quality Research

Research reports on every case are backed by in-depth analysis with clearly defined catalysts, valuation targets, upside opportunities and downside risks.

- Global Coverage

- Exclusive Access

Access to currently actionable special situation ideas is limited to members only. Previous cases are free to view for all website visitors.

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Success case

Ashford Hospitality Trust (REIT with 116 hotels) launched tender offer to exchange all of its preferred shares into common shares at 5.58 ratio diluting existing common holders by 90%+. AHT was severely hit by the COVID-19, which resulted in substantial cash burn and a tight liquidity situation. The company claimed that they need this exchange in order to get rid of the preferred stock burden and ease their access to capital markets. Management seemed very incentivized and in the process has waived pretty much all of the outstanding conditions that were obstructing the transaction. Eventually, all tendered shares were accepted for exchange resulting in 200% return for the unhedged positions and 80% return for hedged positions.

Ashford Hospitality Trust (AHT) – Preferred Stock Tender – 80% In 1 Month

This was a standard split-off transaction. DuPont de Nemours (DD) was selling its Nutrition & Biosciences (N&B) business to International Flavours & Fragrances (IFF). As part of the transaction, N&B had to be split-off and merged into a subsidiary of IFF. DD shareholders had the option to participate in the tender and exchange their DD shares for IFF shares. Every $100 of DuPont stock accepted in the tender was be converted into $107.53 of International Flavours & Fragrances (IFF) stock subject to the upper limit of 0.7180 shares of IFF per DD share. Odd lot priority was included. Borrow for hedging was unavailable on IB. As with every previous split-off deal before, this transaction closed successfully. Unhedged positions (as hedging was not an option) resulted in a +17% gain (for odd lots) in 1 month.

DuPont de Nemours (DD) - Split Off - $1300 In One Month

At a first glance, alternative energy firm Sky Solar seemed like a messy and repulsive situation (US-listed Chinese firm with fraudulent ex-CEO + pile of litigations), however, deeper research revealed that besides being backed by US VC firm, SKYS was also a target of several privatization proposals by non-Chinese parties. The most recent all-cash offer came from a Japanese led consortium, which then owned 72% of the company, whereas a certain SKYS debt holder Hudson Capital tabled a "considerably higher bid" (despite bombarding the company with litigations claiming insolvency). Eventually, the Japanese consortium terminated their proposal and filed a tender offer instead aiming to raise their stake from 77.5% to 90% and then move for a squeeze-out. On such news, most of the arbitrage spread was eliminated and the idea was closed with 100%+ return in 1 month.

Sky Solar (SKYS) - Merger Arbitrage - 100% In 1 Month

Meten EdtechX Education Group was a failed post-merger SPAC that due to liquidity issues, temporarily reduced the exercise price of their warrants from $11.50 to $1.40 per each warrant. The situation provided an attractive arbitrage opportunity and it seemed that the offer was likely to go through as the company was impacted by COVID and needed extra cash to survive. Aside from that, insiders held a third of the warrants and also seemed to be incentivized to cheaply increase their ownership in METX. There was a 65% acceptance condition, however, it was eventually waived and the offer went through as expected generating +175% returns on the warrant price in one month.

Meten EdtechX Education Group (METX) - Warrant Arbitrage - 175% In One Month

Countrywide, one of the largest real estate agencies in UK, received a preliminary offer at £2.50/share in cash from its peer Connells Group. Although the proposal was still at a non-binding stage, the situation seemed interesting as the company had certain upcoming issues with debt covenants and this takeover presented a better pathway than the extremely dilutive recapitalization transaction recently proposed by another firm. The buyer seemed credible and the strategic rationale was sound. Certain activist, which owned 10.5% of CWD.L also was expected to support the offer. The offer price appeared to be relatively low, but kind of justifiable due to the weaker performance of CWD.L compared to the peer firm. Eventually, Connells not only provided a firm offer but also increased the price by 30%.

Countrywide (CWD.L) - Merger Arbitrage - 53% In 1 Month

Charles & Colvard, moissanite producer received an opportunistic acquisition proposal that was turned down by the board. At the same time an activist/largest shareholder with 10% ownership was pushing for the sale of the company with $2/share (150% upside) valuation in a conservative scenario. Downside appeared to be limited and the company looked cheap assuming recovery from COVID and a successful tun-around plan. Eventually, the company announced Q3'20 results, which were very positive, and expectations for Q4 were even higher due to the holiday season, reopening of the stores, and addition of 50 new retail stores in Macy'. Insiders continued to acquire shares as well. All in all, many different catalysts seemed to be on the table. And, although there have been no further news from the activist, CTHR stock appreciated significantly.

Charles & Colvard (CTHR) - Potential Acquisition Target - 91% In 3.5 Months

Growing Community of Special Situation Investors

Join our growing community, participate with your ideas and discussions, ask questions and receive valuable feedback from fellow members.

From Individual Investors
to Professional Funds

Our members have a wide range of competences: from individual stock-pickers to larger capital allocators, family offices, Registered Investment Advisors, arbitrage and other funds.

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Continuous Updates for
Easier Tracking

Our members monitor and discuss all active arbitrage opportunities regularly. A site-wide summary report with updates on each idea is issued on a monthly basis.

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Contribute or Pay for Access

Want to become a member and have access to the full content? Contribute with your own research on a special situation investment idea or pay for subscription. Monthly or annual subscription plans are available.

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- From Individual Investors to Professional Funds

Our members have a wide range of competences: from individual stock-pickers to larger capital allocators, family offices, Registered Investment Advisors, arbitrage and other funds.

- Continuous Updates for Easier Tracking

Our members monitor and discuss all active arbitrage opportunities regularly. A site-wide summary report with updates on each idea is issued on a monthly basis.

- Contribute or Pay for Access

Performance

Our goal is to find the perfect balance between the most lucrative returns while staying at reasonable levels of risk. The performance result speaks for itself. Below are a few examples of our best performers and historical win rate levels of all published cases.

Top ideas

METX - Warrant Arbitrage

100%

SKYS - Merger Arbitrage

100%

CTHR - Potential Acquisition Target

91%

AHT - Preferred Stock Tender

80%

GHL - Expected Tender Offer

75%

Disclaimer: Historical performance statistics shown here and on other parts of SSI website do not represent actual trading results and are meant for informational purposes only. There is no guarantee that cases currently published on SSI or to be published in the future will deliver similar results.

Win rate

2016

78%

2017

76%

2018

67%

2019

69%

2020 so far

68%

Win rate indicates the percentage of all published ideas that we consider to have worked-out favorably in the expected direction. To stay conservative, cases that generated lower than 1% returns are considered as losers.

Top ideas

Win rate

METX - Warrant Arbitrage

100%

SKYS - Merger Arbitrage

100%

CTHR - Potential Acquisition Target

91%

AHT - Preferred Stock Tender

80%

GHL - Expected Tender Offer

75%

2016

78%

2017

76%

2018

67%

2019

69%

2020 so far

68%

Learning Resources

Explore our educational section and learn how to invest in Special Situations

Merger Arbitrage

In-depth guide on merger arbitrage with number of real live recent cases.

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Investing in SSI

Detailed coverage of various types of special situations and tips on how to think about them.

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Split-Offs

Comprehensive look into split-offs: best trading strategies and historical performance.

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Subscriber story

I don't have a sophisticated investment background and investing for me is more like a hobby that I enjoy very much. SSI was recommended to me by one of my friends, who is a professional investor. So far I think it's great. Lots of new ideas and it's easy to follow all the updates, which I found was hard to keep track of on my own. It's very handy to have it all in one place and read other members' opinions too.

Duncan S

Private Investor

SSI research is a massive help to my due diligence and investment decisions. It helps me to discover new ideas and get a broader perspective on the investment cases. Feedback/pushback from other professional members adds a lot of value as well. SSI research often fills the gaps in my own analysis and several times the discussions with other members saved me from making some expensive mistakes. I guess investing is an ever-learning process. Overall, great work guys.

Tony G

Private Investor

I have been investing in special situations for over 10 years and in this field SSI is the best you can find. The team behind the portal is definitely putting themselves up to a high-quality standards. Investment ideas are top-notch and well-researched, whereas updates are always timely and insightful. Aside from being a place to discover new investment ideas, I find discussions with fellow members to be very valuable.

Brian P

Private Investor

It doesn't matter whether you're just a beginner or a highly experienced investor already. If you're interested in special situations, I don't see why you shouldn't become a member. SSI offers you all that you can expect from such a service and more. The research is very high-quality and with over 20 years of investment background, I must say that I've been surprised by how good SSI track record and performance are. Simply put, SSI gives you more than what you pay for - and that sounds like a good investment to me.

Daniel M

Private Investor

I'm a full time investor and I have been following SSI for over one year. Just wanted to say that I'm definitely enjoying the site and actuallly learned a lot from you and the community. I read all of the featured ideas and check the site on a daily basis. Don't want to miss yet another good trade. Thank you for your efforts and keep up the good work!

Andy U

Private Investor

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Special Situation Investors

Do You Invest in
Special Situations?

Investor community focused on low risk arbitrage opportunities and SPACs with short term catalysts

Focus on SPACs,
Special Situations

Find an Edge
in the Markets

Contribute and
Get Free Access

Actionable Investment Research

Subscribe to our FREE newsletter

and stay up to date with the latest special situation opportunities

Success case

Growing Community of Special Situation Investors

From Individual Investors
to Professional Funds

- From Individual Investors to Professional Funds

Performance

Learning Resources

Merger Arbitrage

Investing in SSI

Split-Offs

Subscriber story

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Do You Invest in Special Situations?

Investor community focused on low risk arbitrage opportunities and SPACs with short term catalysts

Focus on SPACs,Special Situations

Find an Edge in the Markets

Contribute and Get Free Access

Actionable Investment Research

Subscribe to our FREE newsletter

and stay up to date with the latest special situation opportunities

Success case

Growing Community of Special Situation Investors

From Individual Investors to Professional Funds

- From Individual Investors to Professional Funds

Performance

Learning Resources

Merger Arbitrage

Investing in SSI

Split-Offs

Subscriber story

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.

Special Situations in your inbox

Subscribe today for timely notifications on special situation investments.

You can unsubscribe at any time

Do You Invest in
Special Situations?

Focus on SPACs,
Special Situations

Find an Edge
in the Markets

Contribute and
Get Free Access

From Individual Investors
to Professional Funds