At this week’s 47th Annual Securities Reg Institute, Ethan Klingsberg will lead the panel, Activism in 2016: Understanding the Dynamics of the Changing Landscape and Changing Roles.  In addition to covering the most recent case law and market developments, Ethan will be discussing with

  • Michele Anderson, member of the senior leadership team at the Division of Corporation Finance of the SEC—issues ranging from the most effective ways to prompt the SEC staff to take action when there are missteps or misleading statements being made by a hostile party to the latest thinking on a spectrum of Section 13(d) issues relevant to the activism landscape;
  • Eileen R. Cohen, Chair of the Proxy Committee & Senior Portfolio Manager of JPMorgan Asset Management—institutional investor perspectives on shareholder engagement, relationships between activists and institutional investors, the presence of an activist on the board, golden leashes, and the impression made on institutional investors of tactics employed by activists and corporations;
  • Carmen Molinos, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley—DOs and DON’Ts for meetings with activists, recent experience with working through the settlement vs. fight calculus, and managing and integrating activists in the boardroom;
  • Charlie Penner, Partner & Chief Legal Officer at Jana Partners—the latest activist playbook, communications between activists and management, latest trends in standstill and settlement agreements, and managing the dual fiduciary conflicts that an activist director faces when on a board of a public company; and
  • Jim Snyder, former SVP & General Counsel of Family Dollar Stores and former head of litigation at Home Depot—role of the general counsel in preparing the board for activism, managing IR and board processes in an activist scenario, how to make short-term NDAs with activists work, managing information flow to an activist director, deflating an activist director’s “shadow management” risk, and when to adopt and not to adopt a poison pill in response to an activist.

Here are links to the presentation material, a video overview and information on location and webcast.   The panel will take place from 2:15pm eastern to 3:45pm eastern time on Wednesday, October 28.