September 7, 2016
Shareholder Activism: Mid-Year Update
This Gibson Dunn memo reviews the state-of-play in activism for the first half of 2016. Here are the highlights:
-Changes in board composition (73.3%), and M&A related activities (53.3%), remained the most common areas of focus for activist investors.
-Mid & smaller cap companies were the targets of a majority of public activist actions, as 55.3% of the companies targeted had equity market capitalizations below $5 billion.
-The percentage of publicly-filed settlement agreements providing for strategic initiatives – replacement of management, spin-off company governance, etc. – has increased (82.4% in 2016 vs. 58.8% in 2014 and 2015).
– John Jenkins