Activist Insight and Olshan Frome Wolosky Release Activism Monthly Premium; the Half-Year Review 2014

NEW YORK, Aug. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Activist Insight, the most comprehensive information source on activist investments worldwide and publisher of Activism Monthly, announced today the publication of its Half-Year Review 2014, in association with Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP's Equity Investment & Activist Practice. 

Released today, the Half-Year Review reveals the latest trends in shareholder activism as well as many telling statistics regarding the 2014 proxy season. Among the insights are data that suggest activist investors appear to be retreating from large-cap and technology stocks and are increasingly targeting the small- and mid-cap space in search of outsize returns. The Half-Year Review also shows how fears that the rising equity markets may limit the number of available targets seem to be far off the mark, as the number of companies targeted by activists have risen more than 7% worldwide, and even more so in the US, so far in 2014.

What follows is a summary of Activist Insight's key findings. To read excerpts from the Half-Year Review, including a foreword by and interview with Steve Wolosky and Andrew Freedman of Olshan Frome Wolosky's Equity Investment & Activist Practice, the foremost legal and strategic advisors to activist investors, an interview with well-known "constructivist" investor Glenn Welling of Engaged Capital, and a look at why a Florida pension fund is backing activists with millions of dollars, click here.

Activism continues to grow

• With 127 public activist campaigns recorded in the US in the first six months of 2014, the level of activism there is likely to surpass that of last year (H1 2013: 114, FY 2013: 207).
• In a foreword for the Half-Year Review OIshan Frome Wolosky Partners Steve Wolosky and Andy Freedman describe the current climate as "a golden era" for shareholder activism. 
• To date in 2014, Olshan Frome Wolosky's Equity Investment & Activist Practice has already surpassed its 2013 totals, delivering 34 nomination letters, negotiating 26 settlement agreements for board representation, filing 32 initial 13D's, and helping clients achieve board representation at a total of 30 public companies. 
• Activism maintained a steady presence in jurisdictions such as Japan and Canada.
• In Europe, publicly declared activist campaigns fell slightly from 23 to 19 targeted companies in the first half of 2014, although there were similar levels of activism in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Scandinavia.
• Activists are more private outside of North America, so it is hard to draw the conclusion that activism is less prevalent this year.

 Large-caps are no longer so popular

• In 2013, activist launched campaigns at over 40 large-cap companies, nearly twice as many as in 2012.
• However, this rate of increase slowed in the first half of 2014, with campaigns at large-cap companies falling seven percentage points.
• That said, the larger proportion of activist investing has always been in the small- and mid-cap space ($250 million to $2 billion, and $2 billion to $10 billion respectively).

Activists are moving from the tech sector to services

• The number of technology companies where activists have launched public campaigns fell 36% between 2013 and 2014, with the news suggesting a partial retreat from campaigns like those at Dell, Microsoft and Apple.
• However, with eBay, Juniper Networks and Riverbed all in play during the first half of 2014, there may be more to come.
• Activists have been particularly drawn to companies where the potential for creative schemes involving real estate exists, while also favouring free cash flows.
• This has led to more campaigns at restaurant chains (6 in H1 2014, against 3 in H1 2013), such as Darden, Bob Evans Foods and The Pantry, and retailers (up to 15 from 6 last year), including Family Dollar and (even more recently) PetSmart.

Outcomes appear more dominated by settlements

It is too early to give a final verdict on many activist campaigns launched during 2014, especially those with more operational demands. Yet early indications show the number of settlements and compromises are up on last year, and that issuers are increasingly aware of either the merits of activist campaigns or the damage that losing a proxy fight can inflict on their reputations and remuneration.

Quotes

Activist Insight's Josh Black, who edited the Half-Year Review: "These trends suggest that even when presented with rising equity markets, activist investors are resourceful enough to find new opportunities. Talk of a peak in activism seems to be an exaggeration."

From a foreword by Steve Wolosky and Andy Freedman, Partners in Olshan Frome Wolosky's Equity Investment & Activist Practice: "The past six months have been our busiest and most successful proxy season on record... Given the amount of capital entering the activism space, and with no sign of this subsiding any time soon, we feel justified in saying we are in the middle of a 'golden era' of shareholder activism."

About Activist Insight

Since 2012, Activist Insight has provided its diverse range of clients with the most comprehensive information on activist investing worldwide. Regularly quoted in the financial press, Activist Insight is the trusted source for data in this ever-evolving space, tracking over 300 activist investors. Activist Insight offers two great products: Activist Insight Online and Activism Monthly Premium magazine, and counts many of the world's leading investment banks, law firms, shareholder communications firms and institutional investors as its clients.

About Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP's Equity Investment & Activist Practice

Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP's Equity Investment & Activist Practice is widely recognized as the nation's premier practice in representing activist investors in contested director elections. Practice Chair Steve Wolosky has pioneered in the area of shareholder activism. Reuters has called Olshan "the go-to advisers for activist investors." The firm has unparalleled experience in counseling clients on a wide variety of activist strategies, from proxy contests, consent solicitations and hostile takeovers, to letter-writing campaigns and behind-the-scenes discussions with management and boards of directors.

Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP, a law firm based in New York, represents major businesses and entrepreneurs in their most significant transactions, problems and opportunities. Olshan's clients range from public companies, hedge, venture capital, private equity and other investment funds to entrepreneurs and private companies worldwide. 

Contacts:

Activist Insight
Josh Black
[email protected]
+44 (0)207 129 1314

Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP
Steve Wolosky
[email protected] | +1 212.451.2333

Andrew Freedman
[email protected] | +1 212.451.2250

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SOURCE Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP