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Among the few dozen current activist situations, most are typical proxy contests. A few, though, go beyond a board election.
Phillips 66 (PSX) – Elliott Management: feared activist Elliott began a proxy contest at PSX, looking for all four available seats on a classified board. Notably, Elliott also sued PSX over the classified board, looking to Delaware Chancery Court to reverse changes to the board size and classes that would reduce the available seats.
Barnwood (BRN) – Ned Sherwood: activist investor Sherwood originally nominated directors for all five available board seats. BRN rejected the notice of nomination, so Sherwood concurrently initiated a consent solicitation to replace those five directors.
Quanterix (QTRX) – Kent Lake: investor Kent Lake fund seeks all three board seats available on the QTRX board, in large part to oppose a deal in which QTRX proposes to buy Akoya Biosciences. In addition to soliciting proxies for the director election at the upcoming AGM, Kent Lake has also begun to solicit proxies in opposition to the deal at the upcoming special shareholder meeting.
180 Degree Capital (TURN) – Marlton Partners: investor Marlton nominated three candidates for five available board seats at TURN, a publicly-traded activist investment fund. In addition to seeking a higher valuation for TURN, Marlton opposes a proposed acquisition of TURN. InvestorCom serves as proxy solicitor for Marlton.
Zevra Pharmaceutical (ZVRA) – Daniel Mangless: shareholder Mangless is repeating a proxy contest from two years ago, one of the first under the then-new universal proxy card rule. Then, he won both board seats that he sought. This year, he nominated two more candidates, including his proxy solicitor.
Harley-Davidson (HOG) – H Partners: H Partners, a long-time HOG investor, settled a proxy contest in 2022 that landed one of their executives on the HOG board. That executive just resigned, citing declining results and corporate governance problems. The date for nominating directors for the 2025 AGM passed, so H Partners instead began a withhold campaign to remove three HOG directors.
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