Activist Investors in Europe: Who Will They Target Next?

Activist investors in Europe have continuing to scale up in ambition. So, what can Boards do to avoid becoming the next target of a costly and distracting activist campaign?

Key points include 

• Along with the size of companies that activist investors are targeting, the time frame for them to launch a public campaign has shortened to 1.84 years. 
• The size of companies being targeted is growing. The average market cap of a predicted target company is now $17.58 billion, up from $16.48 billion.This is a 6.7 percent increase when the FTSE All Share Index was up just 1.3 percent over the same period.
• Activists are targeting different sectors and countries. Energy has become notably less attractive, for example, as oil prices have recovered, boosting profits and share prices.
• In their place, consumer, industrial and IT companies are more likely to be targeted by activists.
• By country, companies based in the U.K., Germany, France and Italy all became more attractive to activists, while Swiss and Scandinavian companies became less so.