Activists Increase Their Focus On Smaller Issuers

Shareholder activism is often associated with campaigns involving large, high-profile issuers. Yet as the Financial Times reports in a recent article, referencing global data from Activist Insight, there has been a slight upswing this year in activism against relatively small issuers.

The data show that from the start of year to the end of July, 61 "micro-cap" companies—that is, companies with market capitalizations ranging from USD $50m to USD $250m—have been targeted by activist funds. 56 micro-cap issuers were targeted over the same period in 2015. In contrast, activism against the largest issuers has experienced a slight slowdown, with 16 companies with market capitalizations over $10b being targeted, compared with 22 over the same period last year. According to the figures, activism against companies worth less than $50m has held steady.