• The days of the old activists are gone. Today activists are as likely to be long term inventors as much as any other type of investor.
• Shareholders are starting to take a different view of activists too. So it is worth knowing your shareholders views on activist and engaging with them about it.
• External activists come from all geographies and regions now. Internal activists are often shareholders who are looking to effect change within the company.
• No company is too small to be targeted. 
• The core demand of activists remains breaking up conglomerates but also includes getting shareholder money back, increasingly social and environmental.
• It is key that companies recognise that everybody is an activist and everybody is potentially vulnerable.
• ESG is taking over everything and is a huge focus for all investors. You cannot underestimate the damage that can be caused if a company has low ESG standards.
• It’s difficult to  ignore an activist that approaches a company with an ESG story that could improve its ranking, rating or increase its value.
• To help mitigate against the risk of an attack, you need to do your own performance check to see where the weaknesses are, look at your own capital structure and talk to shareholders.
• The best strategy is always engagement. Never think an activist will go away. Failure to engage will demonstrate inflexibility and show a lack of interest in shareholders’ concerns.
• Shareholder risk should be continually assessed and not just at certain times.

We are in a new world of shareholder activism—one where all companies are a potential target, and investors with no activist history are making activist demands. Directors now need a new set of skills to ensure they are able to successfully navigate this new landscape and respond effectively to an activist threat. In this webinar we will examine who today’s activists are, what they are looking for, how to identify your risk, and what to do to mitigate an attack. You will hear from Mark Simms, CEO of CMi2i, the London-based leading capital markets intelligence firm, and Harry St. John Cooper, an ex-activist (Paulson & Co) in this educational and informative session.

• The current shareholder activist landscape
• Types of shareholder activism
• How ESG has changed what shareholder activism is
• Quantifying your risk and identifying vulnerabilities
• How directors can mitigate the risk of attack
• How to be prepared for an attack
• What to do if you are confronted with an activist investor

Mark Simms is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of CMi2i. For 25 years Mark has specialised in the provision of capital markets intelligence and advisory services, specialising in activist defence and transactional support. In addition to founding CMi2i, he founded its predecessor Capital Precision. He was previously CEO of Ilios Europe and has held senior positions within the Investor Relations industry, including at Thomson Financial and ICV Ltd. Mark regularly speaks at events around the world on shareholder activism at international IR and banking conferences. He has also been involved in shaping disclosure policy, market transparency regulation, and law reviews across European jurisdictions.

Harry St. John Cooper has over thirty years of experience in global capital markets. He first worked for JP Morgan Cazenove, in both London and New York. But he was most notably a partner involved in the setting up and running of the European office of Paulson & Co. Inc., the leading New York based hedge fund specialising in merger arbitrage and event-driven investing. He has extensive experience as an activist investor as well as in shareholder engagement and investment analysis. He is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and holds a B.S. (Econ) in Accounting and Finance from The London School of Economics.

CMi2i, the world’s leading forensic capital markets intelligence firm, specialises in the world’s most accurate equity & debtholder identification serviceand supports issuers and their advisors with their ESG investment, investor relations, M&A, shareholder activism, capital restructuring and proxy solicitation goals. The company has supported more than 1000 activist defences & corporate transactions and has over 500 clients worldwide. Learn more at www.cmi2i.com.