Shareholder activism continued to rise in 2022, and is poised to bubble over in 2023. As we turn the page on 2022, the overall macroeconomic and geopolitical picture portends continued market volatility and recessionary-like conditions, and activists of all stripes will look to capitalize on valuation re-sets and broader disruption to push their agendas at companies at home and abroad.
Continue Reading Outlook for Activism in 2023

In many ways, 2021 was a high-water mark for corporate activism. The levels of traditional shareholder activism rebounded from the lows reached during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. M&A activism increased substantially as shareholder activists sought to capitalize on the M&A boom. Large-cap activism returned as activists targeted Fortune 500 CEOs with increasing frequency. The year also saw the emergence of a new brand of ESG-themed shareholder activism in the wake of the Engine No. 1 activist campaign supported by CalPERS at ExxonMobil and the copycat ESG tactics deployed by other shareholder activists.
Continue Reading Navigating a World Where Almost Everyone Is an Activist

2021 was a historic year for mergers and acquisitions activity. While some reversion to the mean may be in store, we expect robust deal making to continue in 2022. As boards of directors and management teams seek opportunities in this competitive market, they will need to navigate a dynamic regulatory landscape and should expect investors and other stakeholders to focus on ESG metrics in the evaluation of M&A transactions to a greater extent than before.
Continue Reading M&A Outlook for 2022

In Snow Phipps v. KCAKE Acquisition, the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered the buyer (Kohlberg) to close on its $550 million agreement to purchase DecoPac, a cake decorations supplier.  In doing so, the court easily rejected the buyer’s claims that the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a material adverse effect (“MAE”) and that the steps

On February 26, 2021, the Delaware Court of Chancery (McCormick, V.C.) issued a memorandum opinion in The Williams Companies Stockholder Litigation enjoining a “poison pill” stockholder rights plan adopted by The Williams Companies, Inc. (“Williams”) in the wake of extreme stock price volatility driven by the double whammy of COVID-19 and the Russia-Saudi Arabia oil

Late last week – for the first time in 40 years – the SEC announced a settlement of an internal controls case against an issuer arising from its repurchase of its own shares. The SEC found that Andeavor bought back $250 million of stock without first engaging in an adequate process to ensure that the

A recent decision of the Delaware Court of Chancery in the ongoing WeWork/SoftBank litigation addressed a previously unresolved question:  can management withhold its communications with company counsel from members of the board of directors on the basis that such communications are privileged?  Building on past Delaware decisions concerning directors’ rights to communications with company counsel, including in the CBS case we previously discussed here, the court clarified that directors are always entitled to communications between management and company counsel unless there is a formal board process to wall off such directors (such as the formation of a special committee) or other actions at the board level demonstrating “manifest adversity” between the company and those directors.  See In re WeWork Litigation, C.A. No. 0258-AGB (Del. Ch. August 21, 2020).  In other words, management cannot unilaterally decide to withhold its communications with company counsel from the board (or specified directors management deems to have a conflict).
Continue Reading Recent Decision Confirms Directors’ Right to Access Privileged Communications Between Management and Company Counsel

For more than a decade, the SEC has been wrestling with whether and how to regulate the activities of the proxy advisory firms – principally ISS and Glass Lewis – that have come to play such an important role in shareholder voting at U.S. public companies.  On July 22, 2020, the SEC adopted rules and