Activist investors: gaining the activist’s edge

Activist investors are a force in the market, having deployed almost $300 billion USD of funds in targets as of Q3 2018. Whilst the current unpredictability in markets resulting from geopolitical issues has tempered public activist investor campaigns, their ‘dry powder’ infers they are still a phenomenon to be reckoned with. The last 12 months brought also a new topic on the radar screen of activist shareholders: environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. With the introduction of new reporting obligations on non-financial matters, which are expected to come into effect in 2022, this topics will likely gain further attention.

This means that companies - while facing less external and public disruption to strategy and performance - are provided with an ideal time to develop their own activist investor mindset. In Deloitte’s new perspective “Activist investors: gaining the activist’s edge”, we share some of the attributes of an activist investor’s mentality that can help companies achieve favourable outcomes when examining their existing strategies.