« The decades-long conflict that is currently raging over short-termism and activist hedge funds strikes me as analogous to the Thirty Years’ War of the 17th Century, albeit fought with statistics (“empirical evidence”), op-eds and journal articles rather than cannon, pike and sword. I decided, after some thirty-six years in the front line of the […]

« This paper aims to describe the contemporary tactics and objectives of activist Hedge Funds as well as the actions taken by targeted companies as a result of their intervention. While doing so, we explored the consequences of activism over time when compared to a random sample of firms with similar characteristics at the time of […]

Dans un document intéressant et pertinent sur l’activisme des fonds de couverture (Hedge Funds), le commissaire Daniel M. Gallagher de la U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, cite les travaux de l’IGOPP et du professeur Yvan Allaire, président exécutif du conseil, portant sur le même sujet. L’IGOPP a publié une série de rapports de recherche sur l’activisme […]

« Today, I’d like to pull together some themes that I have been thinking, speaking, and writing about during my tenure and address them more holistically. Specifically, I’d like to share with you some thoughts about shareholder activism, short-termism, and the SEC. I. What is activism? Like many others, I view activism broadly: it is simply […]

« At 8:38 a.m. on June 11, the activist investment firm Elliott Management—run by billionaire Paul Singer—disclosed that it controlled a 7.1% interest in software vendor Citrix Systems, and wanted to meet with management to discuss its proposal to overhaul the company. More than seven hours passed before Fort Lauderdale-based Citrix CTXS, +0.86% produced a […]

« Among practitioners, it is a customary cliché to say that all proxy contests—just like all trials—are unique and idiosyncratic. There is some truth to that easy generalization, but it also misses the forest for the trees. Some obvious truths stand out in the recent battle between Trian Fund Management and DuPont that will apply to […]

« A subset of so-called hedge funds, henceforth known as “activists”, has latched on the idea that many corporations are not managed or governed in a manner likely to maximize value for shareholders. With the capital they have obtained from pension funds and other institutional investors, they take a small position in the equity of publicly […]

« Martin Lipton is a founding partner of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and this post is based on a Wachtell Lipton memorandum. The post puts forward criticism of an empirical study by Lucian Bebchuk, Alon Brav, and Wei Jiang on the long-term effects of hedge fund activism; this study is available here, and its results […]

« A watershed moment is coming for shareholder activism and corporate governance generally, as the proxy contest brought by Trian Management Fund, seeking effectively to break up DuPont, enters its final stages (with the vote being less than a month away). Technically, the contest is to elect four Trian Fund nominees to the DuPont board, but, […]

« La planète boursière renoue avec la peur de l’exubérance. Faut-il y voir l’effet déstabilisant d’une Banque centrale européenne inondant le marché d’argent facile ?​ Ils sont plus nombreux parmi les grands de la finance à reprocher aux entreprises de n’avoir d’yeux que pour l’enrichissement immédiat de leurs actionnaires. Elles sont accusées de se soumettre trop […]

Les Affaires, en collaboration avec l’Institut des administrateurs de sociétés (IAS), le Collège des administrateurs de sociétés et l’Institut sur la gouvernance  (IGOPP), a organisé le 1er avril dernier une Grande soirée de la gouvernance. Durant cette soirée, le professeur Yvan Allaire, président exécutif du conseil d’administration de l’IGOPP a dévoilé en primeur une étude […]

« Despite the continued support of attacks by activist hedge funds by the Chair of the SEC, and many “Chicago school” academics who continue to rely on discredited statistics, there is growing recognition by institutional investors and prominent “new school” economists of the threat to corporations and their shareholders and to the economy of these attacks […]

 » L’Institut sur la gouvernance d’organisations privées et publiques (IGOPP) a dévoilé une étude sur les fonds activistes à l’occasion de la Grande soirée de la gouvernance, le 1er avril. Le principal constat est «qu’en général, les interventions des fonds de couverture activistes visent des fins non utiles à la société, souligne Yvan Allaire, président […]

Afin de mettre en valeur de bonnes pratiques mises en places par des conseils d’administration des sociétés québécoises, le journal Les Affaires, en collaboration avec l’Institut des administrateurs de sociétés (IAS), le Collège des administrateurs de sociétés et l’Institut sur la gouvernance  (IGOPP), a tenu le 1er avril dernier une Grande soirée de la gouvernance. […]

« But it’s no joke to Yvan Allaire, Executive Chair at the Institute of Governance, who believes The Economist is running infomercials for activist hedge funds: On a topic requiring sober, balanced coverage, The Economist cuts logical corners, tramples contrary evidence, ignores a vast store of scholarship, and conjures up an empirical “study” to produce […]

« With its knack for tackling big subjects in a one-sided manner, The Economist in its February 7th issue imagines a dystopian world where corporate managers and boards of directors are generally incompetent, most investors are lazy; but “activists are a force for good”, “capitalism’s unlikely heroes” and “the saviours of public companies”! Even for a […]