Elliott's CDK 13D led to margin targets and board seats; Brookfield bought it for $8.3B

Elliott filed a Schedule 13D on CDK Global in May 2015, shortly after the dealership-software firm was spun off from ADP, arguing the business was undervalued and could earn more. By August 2016 CDK had agreed to add two independent directors identified by Elliott and to a standstill.

Management adopted the cost and margin program Elliott backed: adjusted EBITDA margins were to expand roughly 1,300 basis points to 35% by mid-2018, with capital returns accelerated to $1 billion. CDK hit 370 bps of margin expansion in fiscal 2016 alone.

In April 2022 Brookfield agreed to acquire CDK for $54.87 per share, a 30% premium to the pre-speculation price and an $8.3 billion enterprise value, taking the transformed company private.

CDK delivered 370 bps of EBITDA margin expansion and $1B in buybacks; Brookfield then paid $54.87 a share, a 30% premium, valuing the firm at $8.3B.

The 13D named the margin gap before the fix began.

Board seats turned the thesis into management's own targets.

Seven years of execution made the eventual buyer pay up.

An activist's operating plan can compound into a sale premium years later; the written margin thesis is the thread that holds the whole arc together.

Brookfield completed its tender offer in July 2022 and took CDK private. The margin discipline Elliott pushed in 2015–2016 remained visible in the premium the 2022 buyer paid.