Tag archives: activist investors

ESG & Shareholder Activism: Ready or Not, Here it Comes

Photo of Katherine MacPhail (Calgary)By Katherine MacPhail (Calgary) on Posted in Corporate Governance, Securities, Shareholder Activism
“ESG” stands for Environmental, Social and Governance and describes a handful of criteria used by both issuers and investors to focus on a corporation’s impact and activity regarding topics like environmental protection, climate change, support for the local and global community, diversity in hiring and advancement, and employee compensation. This investment methodology, once considered novel, … Continue reading

Webinar – Corporate governance, shareholder activism, and hostile M&A: Key developments in 2018 and a look ahead

By Joe Bricker on Posted in Corporate Governance, M&A, Proxy Access, Proxy Battles, Securities, Shareholder Activism, Short selling, Uncategorized
Walied Soliman and Orestes Pasparakis, co-chairs of Norton Rose Fulbright’s Canadian Special Situations team, will host a 60-minute webinar on corporate governance, shareholder activism, and hostile M&A on Tuesday, February 12, 2019 at 12 p.m. EST. To sign up, please click here. Our Special Situations team played a leading role in some of the most … Continue reading

Implications of the Collaborative Model of Corporate Governance

Photo of Amanda Ferriss (Toronto)By Amanda Ferriss (Toronto) on Posted in Corporate Governance
In a recent paper, Jill Fisch and Simone Sepe outline a new model for corporate governance: the Insider-Shareholder Collaborative model. A Shift Towards Collaboration Two models have previously dominated the corporate governance discourse: (i) the management-power model and (ii) the shareholder-power model. The former emphasizes a board’s decision-making authority as the corporation’s essential coordinating and … Continue reading

Kingsdale Releases 2018 Proxy Season Review

Photo of Peter Valente (Toronto)By Peter Valente (Toronto) on Posted in Proxy Battles, Securities, Shareholder Activism, Uncategorized
Kingsdale Advisors has released its annual Proxy Season Review for 2018. The Review examines trends observed in 2018, predicts issues on the horizon, and provides advice to both issuers and activists in the marketplace. In what follows, we pick out just a few of the important trends that emerge from Kingsdale’s analysis. The complete report … Continue reading

Activists knocking on the door

Photo of Trevor ZeylBy Trevor Zeyl on Posted in Shareholder Activism
The Canadian Real Estate sector may be in for a shake-up. Reuters recently reported (here) that activists may be eyeing real estate investment trusts (REITs), and their approximate combined C$67 billion in market capitalization, as ripe targets for activist campaigns in light of: attractive prices, vulnerability in the market based on uncertainty surrounding the effects … Continue reading

Fasten your seatbelts: preparing for the globalization of hedge fund activists

Photo of Matthew Lau (Toronto)By Matthew Lau (Toronto) on Posted in Proxy Battles, Shareholder Activism
Activist hedge funds have grown up and gone global, reinforcing the need for companies of all shapes and sizes to plan ahead for the possibility of an attack. A recent article by Martin Lipton in the Harvard Law School Forum of Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation reviews recent developments in the activist landscape and reconfirms … Continue reading

The drivers and consequences of settlement agreements in proxy fights

By Michael Viner (Toronto) on Posted in Proxy Battles, Shareholder Activism
Activist interventions are being increasingly resolved by way of settlement agreements, with 3% of activist interventions in 2000 having resulted in a settlement agreement versus 16% in 2011.[1] In light of this emerging trend, the Columbia Business School recently published a paper, Dancing with Activists, in which the authors sought to provide the first systematic … Continue reading

Members of Special Situations team weigh in on Canadian activism in Ethical Boardroom Magazine

Photo of Trevor ZeylBy Trevor Zeyl on Posted in Shareholder Activism
Members of Norton Rose Fulbright’s Canadian Special Situations team have weighed in on shareholder activism in Canada with an article in the Spring Edition of Ethical Boardroom Magazine. The article, written by Trevor Zeyl (assisted by Joe Bricker), offers insights on shareholder activism in Canada in the past year, and some predictions for 2017 and … Continue reading

Shareholder activism: A year in review – Cutting-edge tactics in 2014 and a look ahead

Photo of Jenny YooBy Jenny Yoo on Posted in Shareholder Activism
Walied Soliman and Orestes Pasparakis, co-chairs of Norton Rose Fulbright’s Special Situations Team, will be joined by Wes Hall, CEO, Kingsdale Shareholder Services Inc. to host our annual video webinar “Shareholder Activism: A Year in Review – Cutting-edge Tactics in 2014 and a Look Ahead” on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 from 12:00-1:00 pm EST. On … Continue reading

Trends and Predictions in Canadian Proxy Contests

By Guy White on Posted in Corporate Finance, Corporate Governance, M&A, Proxy Battles, Securities, Shareholder Activism
Kingsdale Shareholder Services has released its 2014 Proxy Season Review.  In its report, Kingsdale discusses trends observed in 2014, predictions for the future, and gives its key recommendations for companies in the Canadian marketplace.  In reviewing 2014 and comparing it to the previous year, Kingsdale observes: By the numbers – the total number of proxy … Continue reading

Why Are Activist Investors Drawn to Canada?

Photo of Alexander Schmitt (Toronto)By Alexander Schmitt (Toronto) on Posted in Corporate Governance, Proxy Battles, Securities, Shareholder Activism, Uncategorized
Over the past decade, proxy contests have gone from a once rare phenomenon to a standard feature of the Canadian corporate world and as the number of contests have increased, so too have activists’ success rates. To some extent these trends have been driven by greater acceptance of activists’ efforts in the wider investment (and … Continue reading
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