(French original version attached)
Activists often investors need only a very participation minority to make their voice heard and get seats in the boards of their targets. Behind them, mutual funds are valuable allies in this fight.
The American press review of last weekend was eloquent on weight made by activist investors in US markets: Paulson & Co. bought Valeant securities and Starwood Hotels, the manager David Einhorn increased its exposure to General Motors, Nelson Peltz activist revealed a 7% share the distributor Sysco etc. According to JP Morgan, said fund activists alone hold $ 130 billion, and we can extend this to $ 350 billion if we include general funds that launch occasionally in this type of campaign.
To put these envelopes at work, activists seek larger targets, like Bill Ackman who invested $ 5.5 billion in Mondelez, or ValueAct, who bet $ 1 billion at American Express. And to be heard with these behemoths of the rating,
Investors have new partners: mutual funds, these large institutional shareholders who are for the long term and were generally close management. Today, they no longer hesitate to quietly support these agitators when they consider their strategy relevant. So ValueAct had obtained a seat on the board of Microsoft two years ago with less than 1% of the capital through the support of its allies internally. Starboard Value was also supported in his fight to increase the dividend from General Motors, and Nelson Peltz was surrounded to order a replacement management DuPont, although it ultimately failed. According to Rivel Research's survey of 350 mutual funds, half of them have been contacted in the year by activists and 45% agreed to promote their cause.
With their powerful allies, activists manage increasingly to break into corporate boards: they won 107 seats
2014 and 86 already in the first half of 2015, a success rate of 73% (against 52% in 2012), according to FactSet. And that, even though their average attendance declined by 7.7% in 2006 to 6.1% last year, proof that they can now get their way with less.
But to do this, they are also resolved to mature, to change their style and vocabulary: those who vied
verbal abuse to point the finger irresponsible management executives are now more subtle. They start with the rent
dedication of these bosses, before suggesting them to "consider" the spinoffs or redemptions of shares or appoint directors independent. Some, like Carl Icahn, have kept their vehemence, so that when he demanded $ 50 billion to buy back securities Apple, it has run into opposition from shareholders funds, including BlackRock. The boss of the latter, Larry Finck, has also publicly expressed concern about the rise of activism in US companies, which bring to favor short-term actions rather than on the basis of investment projects and growth. Meanwhile, Apple has not only yielded to the demands of its activist, he increased its return program to shareholders to $ 200 billion by 2017.