Activists Targeting Large Companies
The firm SquareWell has analyzed the 100 biggest activist campaigns undertaken in the last two years to change the management of companies 24 January 2022
Ana Medina, of Expansion, has covered SquareWell’s latest study on the largest activist campaigns. Toshiba, ExxonMobil, Vivendi, eBay, Barclays or Just Eat have been targeted by some of the latest activist campaigns which, mainly driven by hedge funds, lobby the board of directors to carry out business changes and in its management. SquareWell has undertaken an “x-ray” of the top 100 campaigns undertaken between September 2019 and December 2021.
Many of the campaigns deal to discredit the board of directors for its ineffectiveness.The main concerns raised affect, among others, the lack of independence and skills
of the board, as well as the remuneration of the top management. At Toshiba, activists based their campaigns on governance issues and in board of directors’ decisions, along with poor performance of Japanese technology. After reviewing the records of voting at shareholders’ meetings, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) was, among the ten largest asset managers, the most supportive of activists by supporting 78% of campaigns, including partial support for Starboard against Box and Amber
Capital at Lagardère.
The full article can be accessed here (subscription required).
