An ex-governor and a 1% hedge fund reset Stillwater Mining, then sold it for $2.2B

Stillwater Mining, operator of the only platinum and palladium mines in the US, had spent heavily on foreign diversification: a $118 million Canadian reserve whose palladium content was later found overestimated, and a $450 million Andes copper project that could cost $2.5 billion to develop. Net income fell 72% in 2012 and the stock was down two-thirds from its peak.

In February 2013 the Clinton Group, a New York hedge fund holding barely 1% of the shares, moved to oust chairman-CEO Frank McAllister — with an unusual ally: Brian Schweitzer, who had left the Montana governor's office weeks earlier and had bought stock and joined the dissident slate. Schweitzer framed the fight in local terms, warning that the Argentine gamble could repeat the fate of Anaconda, Montana's legendary ruined copper company.

At the May 2013 annual meeting, Clinton's four nominees received the highest vote totals of any candidates. Schweitzer became chairman, the roles of chairman and CEO were split, McAllister retired within weeks, and new leadership under Mick McMullen stopped the foreign ventures and cut costs at the Montana mines. In December 2016 South Africa's Sibanye Gold agreed to buy Stillwater for $2.2 billion, $18 a share — a 61% premium — and the deal closed in May 2017.

The new board killed a $2.5B Argentina venture; Sibanye Gold bought Stillwater for $2.2B, $18 a share, a 61% premium, closed May 2017.

The Argentina project's $2.5B price tag dwarfed Stillwater's equity, making the risk easy to explain.

Schweitzer's standing in Montana gave a 1% fund the legitimacy it could never buy.

The May 2013 vote made Clinton's nominees the top-polling candidates, forcing a quick settlement of power.

Focusing on the Montana PGM mines made Stillwater a clean acquisition target for Sibanye.

Local credibility beats stake size: a 1% fund won a board fight by pairing with a trusted local figure who could argue the company was betraying its home turf.

Sibanye completed the $2.2 billion acquisition in May 2017 and folded Stillwater into what became Sibanye-Stillwater, one of the world's largest platinum-group metals producers. Schweitzer stayed on as chairman through the sale; the Montana mines remain the core of the combined company's US business.