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🏦A New Power Emerging in the Proxy Advisory Saga? The ongoing defenestration of ISS and Glass Lewis continues. This week, The Wall Street Journal broke the news that a second large financial institution will follow J.P. Morgan’s lead in severing ties with ISS and Glass Lewis for proxy advisory services. Wells Fargo Wealth & Investment Management, which handles approximately $2.5 trillion in client assets, will rely on a new internal system for votes on shareholder proposals and proxy voting matters. Wells Fargo’s platform will be powered by proxy plumbing fintech company Broadridge, which seems to be muscling into the traditional turf of proxy advisory firms. Will Broadridge - who will also be supporting JPM’s Proxy IQ system - take advantage of an emerging power vacuum in the proxy advisory landscape?

⚜️ Lasseiz le Bon Temps Roulez! We are now less than two months away from Tulane’s Annual Corporate Law Institute on March 19-20! We hope to catch up with you there over a po’ boy and beignets. We are once again polling our elite group of readers on how they view the outlook for M&A and activism and topics you hope to hear about during the M&A and the Media panel early in the A.M. on March 20th. Please take a few minutes to respond and we’ll see you at the Sazerac Bar. Last year, 22% of you said M&A would be “up sharply,” while 61% of respondents expected deals to be up modestly, and you were largely right as mega deals returned in full force in 2025.

📺 Live from NYC, it’s Wednesday Deals! On Wednesday night, the deal community joined the Bloomberg Deals team for a lovely cocktail party to celebrate and highlight Bloomberg's new Deal show launching on February 4th at 12pm. We spotted many a dealmaker from Jon Gray of Blackstone, Leon Kalvaria of Citi and others. It will be a weekly show on Wednesdays at 12pm hosted by Dani Burger with contributions from Liana Baker, Michele Davis and others, and we're excited for our friends at Bloomberg and the deal community to add another important outlet for talking about the M&A business. Wishing the team much success!

Have a great weekend and stay warm,

GPP Team

Reuters: Exclusive: Loeb's Third Point plans to take aim at CoStar in new activist campaign

In a fiery letter unveiled earlier this week, Third Point takes aim at CoStar Group – who responded in kind with a press release of its own– to overhaul the board of directors and restructure operations. In addition, when reporting on this news, Rohan Goswami at Semafor noted that this could be a “bullish signal for activist investors and M&A bankers alike” as one of the first signs that activist pressured M&A could be a major theme of 2026. Read More

Reuters: How activist investors turned a Toyota buyout into a battleground

In a deep dive, Reuters looked into the recent standoff between Toyota and Elliott Management over the automaker’s plan to take affiliate Toyota Industries private with many considering this to be a potential landmark outcome for future Japanese deals. Read More

The Wall Street Journal: Carlyle Edges Ahead in Race for Lukoil’s International Assets

While there are still hurdles to overcome before the deal is completed, PE firm Carlyle has come to a provisional deal for sanctioned Russian energy giant Lukoil’s Austrian subsidiary in a potential $22 billion deal. Read More

The Wall Street Journal: Leidos to Buy Kohlberg’s Entrust for $2.4 Billion

The government services contractor is doubling down on its energy infrastructure with the acquisition of Entrust, which has $650 million in estimated 2026 revenue. Leidos will fund the deal with $500 million cash, $500 million commercial paper, and $1.4 billion in new debt. Read More

The Wall Street Journal: Firms Strike Deal for $10 Billion Shipping-Ports Venture

French shipping company CMA CGM and investment firm Stonepeak have partnered in a $10 billion joint venture called United Ports in a deal that involves 10 ports, including Port Liberty terminal in Staten Island. Read More

Bloomberg: Delaware High Court Rulings Seen as Staving Off Corporate Exits

In the first major response since DExit began, two recent rulings from Delaware’s Supreme Court – alongside the court’s December approval of Elon Musk’s Tesla pay package – could showcase a potential shift in how it disputes cases regarding controlled-led companies moving forward. Read More

Financial Times: Inside Monzo’s boardroom battle that felled its CEO — and brought him back

After a rollercoaster couple of months for UK fintech firm Monzo, the next piece of the saga has unfolded as former CEO TS Anil will rejoin the board after an “investor rebellion” rallied behind him to push for his reinstatement – although not back to CEO. Read More

Reuters: LVMH investors demand clarity on Bernard Arnault succession plan

Major shareholders, including Deutsche Bank's DWS and Edmond de Rothschild, criticized the lack of transparency around Arnault’s successor, claiming that – despite LVMH saying it has succession plans – it has become an increasing liability for the luxury giant. Read More

IPO

Financial Times: SpaceX weighs June IPO timed to planetary alignment and Elon Musk’s birthday

In the next step in the potentially fast-moving IPO process, the FT reported that Elon Musk has a target date of June in mind for SpaceX’s IPO that would be close to a conjunction of Jupiter and Venus – all while being close to his birthday. In other Musk news, The Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla will invest $2 billion in his private AI firm, xAI, as part of the news coming out of the EV-maker's earnings report from earlier this week. Read More

Financial Times: European IPO market starts 2026 at record pace, sparking hope of revival

After Prague-based ammunition maker CSG’s successful start on the Amsterdam stock exchange, advisors and bankers see this as a potential sign of attractive pricing that could lead to increased IPO activity throughout 2026 in Europe. Read More

FROM OUR DESK TO YOURS

This week we took in the uplifting show Bob Marley: How Reggae Changed the World as part of the Fringe Encore Series at the Soho Playhouse. Playwright/singer/songwriter Duane Forrest uses Bob Marley’s hits to explore the birth of reggae, the history of Jamaica, and his own coming of age story in a personal, profound and very fun evening. Make sure to catch it this weekend before the festival heads to its next stop in Adelaide, Australia.

We also stopped by Ernesto’s, a cozy taverna where Basque country meets Two Bridges. Chef Ryan Bartlow and team lob delicious pintxos like shrimp toast, salted cod croquettes and jamón ibérico draped over a plate of homemade potato chips towards your table. Entrees include Galician octopus, arroz de conejo (a bomba rice dish with braised rabbit) and a delicious duck with pomme purée and sauce made from port. Beyond the food, you should make sure to stay for the 1,000+ bottle sherry list.

Bartlow also recently opened a more refined West Village location called Bartolo which has moved its way up our hit list after this week. Topa!

PEOPLE MOVES

• Will Danoff, the portfolio manager who has overseen Fidelity’s Contrafund since 1990, will retire at year end. Read More
• BlackRock elected BDT & MSD Co-CEO Gregg Lemkau to its board of directors. Read More
• Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin joined the board of Lionsgate Studios. Read More 

• February 2-3: WSJ Invest Live – West Palm Beach, FL 
• March 3-4: Bloomberg Invest – New York, NY
• March 19-20: Tulane Corporate Law Institute – New Orleans, LA

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