Sky Blog
The recent market downturn driven by uncertainty on tariffs, domestic policy shifts and the changing geopolitical landscape will continue to create new opportunities for activists in 2025. We highlight below how activism may evolve in the coming months:
Market Volatility …
Let’s say upfront: voting “no” or withholding votes on directors is a relatively weak way to influence a portfolio company. We’re stubborn, so we prefer electing directors or amending bylaws. Binding acts work much better than non-binding, like opposing exec …
Year after year, the world’s activist-investor community meets at the Active-Passive Investor Summit, the premier shareholder activist conference in New York City, organized by research and advisory service 13D Monitor. Yet at this year’s gathering, on October 22, the mood …
In a typical activist campaign, the activist threatens to launch a proxy fight unless the board of directors agrees to take certain actions to increase shareholder value, such as selling off company assets or replacing the CEO. Increasingly, however, there …
Activism has fully rebounded from the brief pandemic dip, with the past eighteen months seeing increased activity. As we have previously noted, regardless of industry, size or performance, no company is too large, too popular, too new or too successful …
There have been 12 proxy contests that have gone to a vote under the SEC’s universal proxy rules, which became effective on September 1, 2022. A review of these contests reveals several themes.
Overall Results: Activists obtained a board seat …
In March 2022, the SEC proposed mandatory climate disclosures for public companies.[1] While climate activist investors applauded the proposed rules, opponents lamented their scope and cost, arguing that the SEC lacks the authority to promulgate such rules. But the …
Military strategy and takeover strategy share a few things in common. At some point, generals and M&A lawyers each must recognize that the old technology no longer works as it did in the past and can no longer dominate the …
Stewardship has, along with sustainability, social equality, biodiversity, and climate risk management, emerged in recent years as a favorite buzzword in corporate governance and investment management circles. But the language used by investors to express stewardship objectives and practices varies …
Last February, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed to “modernize” the reporting of beneficial ownership of a company’s stock under section 13(d) of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act. As I explained in a recent comment letter to the SEC, the …
The upcoming Universal Proxy Card (UPC) presents activist investors with only one potentially significant new burden: solicit two-thirds of the shares in a proxy contest at a portfolio company. Everything else in the new rule, including the new proxy card …
On November 17, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved amendments to the federal proxy rules to mandate the use of a universal proxy card in public solicitations involving director election contests. After the rules become effective on August …
Despite a short dip at the outset of the pandemic, activism has rebounded and now continues at an ever-growing intensity. As we have previously noted, regardless of industry, size or performance, no company should consider itself immune from activism. No …
Activist investors once limited their targets to mostly smaller, less known firms. Now, though, they increasingly target large, household names like Procter & Gamble, DuPont, and Berkshire Hathaway, aiming to influence company actions, replace management, or even purchase the company.…
Members of the academic community, the business world, and law firms have long been debating shareholder primacy, stakeholder governance, and corporate purpose. In a forthcoming essay, I outline these arguments but suggest that reform of corporate governance should be focused …
In a recent working paper, we look at what drives shareholder activism around the world and focus specifically on the role of corporate governance reforms.
While shareholder activism has been a force in U.S. capital markets for some time, …
This past summer, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed eliminating quarterly disclosures for 90 percent of institutional investment managers by raising the reporting threshold under Section 13F of the Exchange Act from $100 million to $3.5 billion. The proposal …
The past six months have been marked by a profound upheaval that has accelerated the growing focus on both the purpose of the corporation and the role of the board in overseeing and leading the corporation in ways that promote …
On October 12, 2015, an activist hedge fund we’ll call John Doe Management filed a Form 13D, disclosing 5.5 percent ownership and an intent to pursue an activist campaign in a target firm we’ll call Industrial Corp (IC). The next …