Bristol Investment Fund said that it is nominating two directors, Paul Kessler and Richard McKilligan, for election to Advocat's board at the company's 2009 annual meeting. Bristol owns 389,850 shares (6.87% of the total outstanding).

Coghill Capital Management plans to talk with Aspect Medical about strategic alternatives that could result in a change of control of the company. Coghill added that it also intends to talk with Aspect Medical concerning its capital and cost structure, and its direction and leadership. Coghill owns about 2.8 million shares (16.2%).

MHR Fund Management and its affiliates say they have been in talks with Lions Gate about the possibility of adding a nominee to the company's board. MHR Fund Management also said that it is "principally supportive" of Lions Gate's managers and their publicly stated strategies. MHR, which is majority-owned by Mark Rachesky, acquired the shares because it believed the stock represented "an attractive investment opportunity," according to the filing. The announcement by MHR was widely interpreted as support for the film and television studio's management, as it attempts to rebuff advances from activist investor Carl Icahn. Icahn is seeking to boost his 14.5% stake and has threatened to launch a proxy fight. MHR and its affiliates hold 23,165,278 shares (19.99% of the shares outstanding).

Ready Mix and its majority stakeholder, Meadow Valley Holdings, entered into a confidentiality agreement regarding potential transactions. Pursuant to the agreement, Ready Mix agreed to furnish Meadow Valley Holdings and its affiliates with confidential information to facilitate the undertaking of an evaluation of potential transactions. Meadow Valley holds 2,645,212 shares (a 69.4% stake).

Full Value Partners said that it intends to file a lawsuit to force the company to hold its annual meeting as scheduled. TM Entertainment recently pushed back the meeting's date, to May 13 from April 14. Phillip Goldstein, a principal of Full Value Partners, said that he is concerned that TM Entertainment & Media's management might attempt to delay the meeting again. Full Value holds 2,340,350 shares (18.72%).

Syntek West reported ownership of 579,958 shares (5.16%), after buying 46,400 at $11.14 a share. Syntek says it acquired the shares of the Dallas-based company as an investment, and at present has no plans or proposals that would result in its seeking to acquire the entire company.

Bart Partners reported ownership of 4,654,889 shares (5.1%), after buying 722,724 from Feb. 13 to March 17 at 51 cents to $1.19 each.

Activist shareholder Joseph Stilwell reported ownership of 360,475 shares (5.2%), after purchasing 67,970 from Jan. 15 to March 6 for $7.25 to $8.00 each. Stilwell says that it doesn't believe that the value of Alliance's assets is adequately reflected in the current market price of the common stock.