Panel discussion

What are the impacts of shareholder activism on governance and performance of the target companies? This panel will discuss the costs and benefits of shareholder activism. It will also investigate whether activists act as catalysts for change, force companies to adopt short term objectives or simply put them ‘into play’ as good takeover target. Other aspects addressed by the panel are how institutional investors can become more active shareholders, if hedge fund activists facilitate or hinder stewardship, whether the skill set of the average fund manager was suitable for identifying and intervening when there is underperformance and whether activism was compatible with the low costs of fund management particularly of indexed funds.