George Casey, Scott Petepiece, and Lara Aryani are partners at Shearman & Sterling LLP. This post is part of the 19th Annual Corporate Governance Survey publication prepared by Shearman & Sterling LLP, by Mr. Casey, Mr. Petepiece, Ms. Aryani, and Vita Zhu. Related research from the Program on Corporate Governance includes The Long-Term Effects of Hedge Fund Activism by Lucian Bebchuk, Alon Brav, and Wei Jiang (discussed on the Forum here); Dancing with Activists by Lucian Bebchuk, Alon Brav, Wei Jiang, and Thomas Keusch (discussed on the Forum here); and Who Bleeds When the Wolves Bite? A Flesh-and-Blood Perspective on Hedge Fund Activism and Our Strange Corporate Governance System by Leo E. Strine, Jr. (discussed on the Forum here).
After years of growth in shareholder activist activity, the onset of COVID-19 across the world caused a decline in shareholder activism campaigns in the spring and summer of 2020. Economic recovery in the second half of the year coincided with the end-of-year proxy season and gave rise to a renewed appetite for activist campaigns in Q4 that continued through the first half of 2021. While uncertainty remains, particularly on a regional basis due to variations in vaccination rates and the impact of new variants of COVID-19, we expect to see renewed vigor in shareholder activism to continue through the second half of 2021 and into 2022.
Shareholder Activism in 2020
While shareholder activism declined sharply in the spring and summer of 2020, the overall number of campaigns was lower but did not result in a significant year-over-year decline. This was in large part due to the fact that the two annual proxy seasons book-ended the market turbulence of 2020, such that many of the activist campaigns were initiated either before COVID-19 in Q2 or after the economic recovery at the end of the year. The rebound of activism continued through the first half of 2021, with activist campaigns in the U.S. accelerating at a higher pace—large-cap United States companies experienced an approximately 30% increase in the number of activist campaigns in the first half of 2021 compared to 2020 (see chart below). Notwithstanding this renewed push, activism levels remain muted compared to the 2017–2020 averages (see chart below). Nevertheless, we expect the growing momentum to continue into the second half of 2021 and into 2022.