Octogenarians Make Unlikely Appearance on List Featuring Words “Most Wild” | |
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This week we’re coming to you live from the far-off lands of Brooklyn, where GPPers gathered for our 6th annual off-site in Williamsburg. More on that below. While crossing the East River on the ‘L’ train, we dove into ISS Corporate Solutions’ 2023 Proxy Season Digest that retroactively outlines trends and takeaways from the latest proxy season. The most notable among them: corporate boards are continuing to diversify; failed say-on-pay proposals have declined from their all-time peak; executive compensation packages are increasingly including ESG performance metrics; and environmental and social-focused shareholder proposals are increasing but garnering weaker support.
Meanwhile, the votes are in on Diligent Market Intelligence’s “Wildest Campaigns of 2023.” The report by Diligent’s Jason Booth, Will Arnot, and Miles Rogerson, published in Harvard Law School’s Forum on Corporate Governance, takes a look back at some of the highest profile campaigns that saw “the godfather of shareholder activism lock horns with a biotech giant while simultaneously defending his holding company from a shorts attack, veteran activist Nelson Peltz back down from a fight, and divisive mergers and acquisitions, some of which have developed into heated lawsuits.” This report makes clear what we know all too well at GPP: it’s never a dull moment on the activism front.
Have a great weekend,
GPP Team
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Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance: Wildest Campaigns of 2023
Diligent Market Intelligence reveals their picks for the wildest activist campaigns of 2023. Topping the list: Icahn vs Illumina, IAA vs Ritchie Bros., and Trian Partners vs Walt Disney Co. Read More
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Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance: 2023 Proxy Season Digest
ICS shares the key takeaways from 2023 proxy season including an increase in diverse director nominations, an increase in Say-on-Pay proposal success, less support for ESG proposals, and more. Read More
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Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance: Guarding Against a Short Attack
Skadden partners Demetrius Warrick, Richard Grossman and Neil Stronski share their advice for how companies can defend themselves from potential short seller attacks, including preemptively identifying vulnerabilities, transparently communicating with shareholders and responding promptly to rebut accusations. Read More
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The Deal: Barington Target Hanes Runs Champion Sale
Hanesbrands announced it has launched a strategic review of its Champion apparel brand following pressure by the activist fund Barington Capital Group to consider potential director or leadership changes, writes Ron Orol. Read More
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Financial Times: Companies Ease Off on Share Buybacks as Rising Interest Rates Push Up Costs
Rising interest rates and newly imposed government levies are increasingly dissuading U.S. companies to pursue share buybacks, which have fallen to their slowest pace since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, writes Nicholas Megaw. Read More
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Watch CNBC’s Full One-On-One Interview with Citadel Founder Ken Griffin
Citadel CEO & Founder Ken Griffin joins Sara Eisen for an extended broadcast interview on CNBC in which he shares his thoughts on broader market trends, the Fed’s interest rate policy, U.S. politics and even his portrayal in the upcoming movie "Dumb Money." Watch here
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The Wall Street Journal: M&A Can Pay Off, but It’s Far from a Sure Thing
Ben Dummett highlights new academic research indicating that the success rate of M&A deals for acquiring companies is increasing and is now closer to 50-50 and that initial stock price reactions to announced deals are potential indicators of how successful deals will be in the long-term. Read More
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The Wall Street Journal: Cisco to Buy Cybersecurity Company Splunk in $28 Billion Cash Deal
Will Feuer and Thomas Gyrta report that Cisco plans to acquire Splunk in a $28 billion all-cash deal that, if approved, will be Cisco’s biggest acquisition ever. Read More
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Semafor: Wall Street Has Nothing to Do
Liz Hoffman examines the current state of the deal market and whether investors and bankers are starting to see signs of a potential uptick of dealmaking on Wall Street. Read More
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Breakingviews: IPO Candidates are Trying to Flip the FOMO Script
Jennifer Saba analyzes the “relatively cautious” approaches taken by Arm and Instacart during their respective IPO processes and suggests the strategy may help spark more companies and their investors to seek public listings and jump-start the IPO market. Read More
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CNBC: Instacart Prices IPO at $30 a Share, Valuing Grocery-Delivery Company at About $10 Billion
Instacart priced its initial listing at the top end of its range, giving the grocery-delivery company a $10bn valuation and potentially setting the stage for other companies to test the IPO market, writes Ari Levy. Read More
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The Wall Street Journal: Klaviyo Shares Soar in Debut, Pointing to IPO Resurgence
Denny Jacob reports that the marketing-automation platform Klaviyo joined the ranks of other companies like Instacart and Arm that have also had successful recent IPO listings. Read More
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Breakingviews: Deal Cops Start Practically Walking the Beat
Jonathan Guilford covers the FTC's decision to drop lawsuits against Amgen and ICE, describing the shift as "almost conciliatory." In light of recent losses, this pullback indicates the FTC’s awareness of the risk of establishing legal precedent that could weaken its own influence. Read More
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SEC Issues New Strategic Plan for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
On Monday, the SEC revealed its revised strategic plan for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility for the next four fiscal years, which includes a framework designed to help companies embed DEI&A practices in their operations. Read More
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Climate Impact Partners: Annual Report Reveals Climate Commitment Issues Among Fortune Global 500 Companies
Climate Impact Partners released its fifth annual study examining the progress Fortune 500 companies have made on their climate commitments. The newest report reveals that many companies are beginning to stall on their commitments and that companies that reduced their yearly reported emissions earned $1 billion more on average in net profit compared to their peers. Read More
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The Wall Street Journal: Companies Stall Climate Action Despite Earlier Promises
Amrith Ramkumar, Ed Ballard and Shane Shifflett explore how various companies "overpromised and underdelivered" on their climate commitments and are now increasingly struggling to keep up with their long-term emissions targets. Read More
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Financial Times: EU to ban ‘climate neutral’ claims by 2026
Alice Hancock reports that the EU has voted to institute new rules by 2026 that would ban companies from making broad and unproven environmental claims including "climate neutral," "green," "eco" and more. Read More
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FROM OUR DESK TO YOURS
At our offsite, at the Hoxton hotel, we were filled to the gills with great discussions and stellar eats. Some notable highlights included an improv session with the Upright Citizens Brigade and an illuminating conversation with client Joanna Rose, Partner and the Global Head of Corporate Communications at Apollo. Wednesday kicked off with dinner at wood-fired pizzeria Roberta’s, where the team enjoyed, among other things: margherita and vegan pizza; various prosciuttos; and fancy cheeses – all paired with a selection of fine wines from firm in-house sommelier Steve Lipin. Thursday breakfast was catered by Israeli café K’Far and featured tasty Mediterranean-inspired treats like pistachio sticky buns and brown butter artichoke borekas, followed by a lunch of little gem salad and Jerusalem bagels. We closed our staycation with a decadent four-course meal at French brasserie Le Crocodile – be sure not to miss the fries, among the city’s best.
As for what we’ll be watching this weekend, our eyes are on the highly anticipated movie of the fall – in fact one of the only movies of the fall, given sensitivities around the SAG-AFTRA strike – with a star-studded cast, including Shailene Woodley, Pete Davidson, Seth Rogen and America Ferrera and it’s about…retail trading? That’s right, Dumb Money follows architect of the GameStop short squeeze Keith Gill, played by Paul Dano, through the stock’s rises and falls. Catch the trailer here.
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After seven decades at the helm, Rupert Murdoch will be stepping down as chairman of News Corp. and Fox and become chairman emeritus. Read More
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Planet Fitness announced the departure of CEO Chris Rondeau. Board member and former New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson will step in as interim CEO. Read More
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Block Inc. announced that Alyssa Henry, the CEO of the company’s Square unit, will be departing and Block CEO Jack Dorsey will backfill the position. Read More
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BP named Kath Thomson as interim Chief Financial Officer. The appointment closely follows the departure of CEO Bernard Looney last week. Read More
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Cooley has named Rachel Proffitt as its first-ever female CEO, succeeding Joe Conroy, who will continue as chair. Read More
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