Melissa Sawyer is a partner and Lauren S. Boehmke and Nathaniel R. Ludewig are associates at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. This post is based on their Sullivan & Cromwell memorandum. Related research from the Program on Corporate Governance includes Dancing with Activists by Lucian Bebchuk, Alon Brav, Wei Jiang, and Thomas Keusch (discussed on the Forum here); The Long-Term Effects of Hedge Fund Activism by Lucian Bebchuk, Alon Brav, and Wei Jiang (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).
On the surface, the 2018 activism data is largely consistent with 2017, but with an uptick in overall activity. The amount of capital invested in new activist positions in 2018 was up approximately $2.5 billion from 2017, and activists won more board seats in 2018 than in 2017, mostly through settlements. Although several well-known activists (including Third Point, Pershing Square and Greenlight Capital) announced disappointing investment results in 2018, and the industry experienced negative net asset flows overall, activist funds continue to attract substantial new capital.
While Elliott was the most active fund globally in 2018, accounting for 9% of all campaigns, many other established activists were busy: nine of the top ten activist funds (calculated by aggregate market value of their activist positions at year-end 2018) each invested more than $1 billion in new campaigns in 2018. 52% of all board seats won globally since 2013 have been won by a group of 11 activists (in order of board seats won): Starboard, Elliott, Icahn, JANA, Engaged Capital, Sarissa Capital, ValueAct, Corvex, FrontFour, Glenview and Legion Partners. Many of these “name brand” activists have since spun-off new funds, or their key players have moved on to other funds, leading to a dispersion of skills and techniques across a wide playing field and resulting in 2018 producing a record number of first-time activists initiating campaigns.
