(BFM Bourse) – FedEx, HSBC or TotalEnergies… With the fall in the markets, companies have never been under so much pressure from minority shareholders. More than a hundred campaigns were launched over the past six months, a record level since 2018, according to a recent study by Lazard bank.
Minority shareholders continued to put pressure on more companies, pushing shareholder activism to the highest in a half year since 2018, according to a report by Lazard bank.
With 126 campaigns launched in the first six months of the year, investors had not been so active since 2018, driven in particular by a record first quarter. Between 2018 and 2021, the number of campaigns carried out had continued to decline.
Shareholder activism, a practice in which a minority shareholder attempts to influence corporate governance or strategy, “has become broader, more diverse with many more investors making their voices heard,” observes with AFP Rich Thomas, head of shareholder advisory activity for Europe at Lazard.
Investors “less patient”
Proof of this diversity, the five largest activists represent only 10% of the total actions in Europe over this semester, against nearly a quarter the years before. Mr. Thomas also notes a rapprochement between activists and non-governmental organizations in certain battles. Dozens of small investors thus tried to influence the climate policy of the French oil giant TotalEnergies via resolutions at the General Assembly in May, and were joined in their fight by environmental activists who came to disrupt this assembly.
NGOs can also support campaigns run by shareholders, to help them gain visibility. Recently, large companies have been heckled from the inside, from Elon Musk’s assault on the social network Twitter after an initial equity investment, to debates on the strategy of the American delivery company FedEx or the British bank HSBC.
The fall in the markets since the beginning of the year has further encouraged activists who demanded the sale or delisting of the company in which they hold shares.
Investors “are less patient” than before, notes Rich Thomas. Many do not hesitate: “if the market does not recognize the company at its fair value, it is better to take it out of the stock market” by being bought out by a private equity player, for example, according to Rich Thomas .
(With AFP)
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