Top activist investing news and ideas --

• Engine Capital is taking on AECOM's board of directors, senior executives and CEO. They’re looking to block the re-election of sitting members of AECOM's board at a March 6 meeting in an attempt to upend its management and the compensation structure for executives.

• Papa John’s founder John Schnatter says he welcomes hedge fund Starboard Value’s investment in the pizza restaurant chain -- even as he filed an updated lawsuit on Monday against the company. “Mr. Schnatter welcomes the comments that have come from Mr. Smith and the company in the past few days,” Schnatter’s attorney Garland Kelley said in a statement. “Today’s amended lawsuit reflects support for Mr. Smith and his plans to invigorate the company for the benefit of all shareholders.”

• Starboard Value has an interest in Bristol-Myers Squibb’s plan to purchase Celgene for $74 billion. Starboard reportedly took an ownership stake in BMS in early February, and now it has hired a proxy solicitor to survey the level of support for the Celgene buy among shareholders. Starboard has not yet decided whether to oppose the deal.

• Navient Corp. has received a buyout offer worth about $3.2 billion from a pair of investors that the student-loan servicer rejected as too low. Navient’s board said Monday that it voted to turn down the $12.50-a-share proposal from hedge fund Canyon Capital Advisors LLC and private-equity firm Platinum Equity Advisors LLC, believing it undervalues the company and is lacking in other ways.

Notable news --

• Third Point has earned a 300% return over the last eight years, despite losing 11.3% in 2018. In the recent letter, founder Dan Loeb says of its current high-profile investment, “We believe Nestlé can sustain this new momentum beyond 2020, as the company continues to sharpen its strategy, better align its portfolio around key categories, and improve its organization to become more agile.”

Must reads --

• Warren Buffett can’t find anything to buy [link]
• Activist investor stronger than ever in Canada [link]
• Graham Doddsville Winter 2019 newsletter [link]
• Activist funds turn attention to banks as new merger wave sets up [link]
• SumZero’s top stock picks [link]