Giant Investment is nominating two representatives for election to Tier Technologies' board at the annual meeting, scheduled for March 11. Giant Investment contends that Tier lacks the necessary scale to continue as an independent public company and that it should explore strategic alternatives. Giant Investment currently holds 1,799,322 shares (9.1% of the total outstanding).

Sigma-Tau Finanziaria nominated four directors to the board of directors of SciClone. The vote will be held at SciClone's 2009 annual stockholders' meeting. The nominees are Roberto Camerini, Trevor Mervyn Jones, Gregg Lapointe and Alberto Mantovani. Sigma-Tau Finanziaria currently holds 9,853,261 shares (21.3%).

Shareholders including BlueLine Partners reported ownership of 735,734 shares (8.5%), after buying 349,304 from Dec. 17 to Dec. 23, at prices ranging from $6 to $6.36 a share. Blueline partners, which said that the purchase was made for investment purposes, also said that it has had conversations with IntegraMed regarding "shareholder-value issues," and expects discussions with management to continue.

Supermarket magnate Ron Burkle's Yucaipa American Management reported ownership of 4,584,313 shares (8.3%), purchased from Nov. 24 to Dec. 31, 2008 at prices that ranged from $13.20 to $16.39.

Funds managed by Mario Gabelli's Gamco Investors (GBL) raised their stake to about 6.16 million shares (27.73%) from the 5.92 million (26.64%) that they had reported owning in December.

Blum Capital Partners boosted its position to 17.6 million shares (21.4%), from the 17.2 million (20.9%) that it had reported owning on Dec. 8.

Chinese travel-site operator Ctrip.com International (CTRP) raised its stake to 6.19 million shares (8.72%), from the 5.36 million (7.55%) that it had reported owning on Dec. 10.

Fosun Industrial increased its holdings to 16,330,112 ordinary shares (12.07%) from 14,445,112 (10.67%). Fosun said that all of its position is made up of American depositary shares, each of which represents four ordinary shares.