Papa Johns has been dishing shitty pizza and shittier returns for a long time now
But it looks like it caught the eye of a Qatari sheikh who just created a hedge fund with a strategic partner who has the experience and intention to take PZZA private or at least shake things up
Some hedge fund called Irth Capital Management LP filed their first and so far only [13F on January 2nd](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2046144/000149315225000031/0001493152-25-000031-index.htm) disclosing a massive new position in PZZA. During the fourth quarter of 2024, and most likely only after November for reasons I'll explain below, Irth bought 1,628,503 shares in PZZA for $66,882,618. Irth now owns 4.99% of PZZA
But who is behind Irth Capital Management LP? According to Irth's offering [Form ADV and Part 2A of Form ADV](https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/330696), Irth is a money manager formed on November 14, 2024. Irth has over $202 million AUM from only 4 clients
Pulling from Irth's Part 2A, their stated investment objective and strategy include the following:
* Irth implements a systematic, event driven, fundamental constructivist investment strategy, investing in both public and private companies. Irth focuses its research primarily on areas where it has deep domain expertise and long-term relationships such as: Food and Agriculture, Consumer Goods, **Restaurants**, Leisure, Hospitality, Supply Chain Logistics, Government, Data, and Technology.
* Irth’s investment decisions reflect Irth’s core principles: concentration, deep fundamental research, and **control**.
* Irth’s Strategic Fund generally consists of 8-15 core, event driven, long only positions.
Irth discloses in their Part 2A that their *private equity investments **will often originate as an investment on the public equity side**; therefore, Irth creates many of its own opportunities and does so at what it believes to be attractive valuations. Once a **public-to-private** sale process begins, Irth has an information and speed advantage given that it has already been researching the company, its industry, customers, and competitors for months, sometimes years.*
Irth makes it clear that they are active, not passive, investors in their Part 2A: *Irth’s investment philosophy is based on the active management of the reorganization process of its portfolio companies and influencing and directing the post-reorganization business strategy, management and operations of its portfolio companies.*
So what we know so far is Irth was formed in November 2024 with $202 million from 4 investors with a mandate to either take public companies private or engage in shareholder activism. We also know that almost immediately after forming their fund, Irth took a nearly 5% and $67 million position in PZZA which happens to be in Irth's target industries. Irth's $67 million position in PZZA represents almost one-third of their entire AUM which is quite a YOLO
But who really is Irth and why am I talking about a Qatari sheikh?
Irth was co-founded by two people: [Matthew Bradshaw](https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-bradshaw-1011617/) and [Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulla Al Thani](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheikh-mohamed-bin-abdulla-al-thani-133663341/)
Matthew Bradshaw is formerly the founder and managing partner of Durational Capital Management which took Bojangles private in 2019
Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulla Al Thani is a Qatari sheikh who was most recently the CEO the Qatari sovereign wealth fund's Americas group
If it's good enough for a Qatari sheikh to YOLO, it's good enough for me to YOLO. I'm in for 1,000 shares at an average basis of $39.59 - screenshot is attached
https://imgur.com/a/J0TU2ZA