Daily Compliance News: April 24, 2025, The Made in Malaysia Edition
Innovation in Compliance - Key Board Issues Going Forward with Christina Bresani
This Week in FCPA-Episode 77, the Home for the Holidays Edition
Preparing a Company to Deal With Activist Investors
Why Every Day Is Proxy Season for Public Companies
Shareholder activism in the public REIT sector has evolved from a marginal tactic employed by a small number of high-profile hedge funds into a persistent, structural feature of corporate life. The public REIT model, long...more
In our earlier blog post, we discussed Staff Legal Bulletin 14M (SLB 14M), which rescinded prior Staff Legal Bulletin 14L (SLB 14L). The staff of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicated that SLB 14M is...more
On February 12, 2025, the Division of Corporation Finance (Staff) of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14M (SLB 14M) concerning shareholder proposals for public company proxy...more
2024 was a prolific year for activists, with 243 campaigns launched globally – the highest number since 2018. US activity was up modestly, and a busy year in Asia offset a quieter year in Europe. With the 2025 proxy season in...more
Public companies always have an abundance of priorities to address, and defending against shareholder activism is increasingly at the top of the agenda. Across industries and market caps, today's activists are more aggressive...more
Corporate crises happen—and that means we have to plan for them. While it isn’t practical to prepare for every possible corporate crisis, there are steps that boards and management teams can take to be better prepared. In...more
SEC Penalizes Director for Misleading D&O Questionnaire Response - The SEC recently brought an enforcement action against a director for causing violations of the proxy rules by failing to disclose a close personal...more
A recent monumental decision of the Delaware Supreme Court (Court), dubbed a “first-of-it-kind” ruling by Bloomberg Law, provides clarity for both public companies looking to amend their bylaws and shareholder activists who...more
In our previous client alert, The Rise of the “Occasional Activist,” we discussed the increase in shareholder activism through 2022 by “occasional activists” – investors who are not funds dedicated to activist strategies or...more
As collective redress actions rise, sponsor and corporate statements are under high scrutiny, with an industry developing to take advantage....more
In this episode of The Proskauer Benefits Brief, David Teigman, partner in the Tax Department and a member of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group, Josh Apfelroth, partner in the Private Equity and Mergers &...more
The oversight obligations of boards continue to expand. Recent enforcement actions and new laws in areas such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and supply chains create new challenges for boards, as we explain in this...more
Activist shareholders had a busy 2023: The incidence of activist campaigns in Europe soared by almost 70% compared to 2022, according to data compiled by Skadden and Activistmonitor. As we described in a previous issue of The...more
The world of corporate shareholder activism is poised for significant changes and challenges. Activist shareholders have been a driving force in shaping the corporate landscape, pushing for reforms and steering companies...more
The UK market continues to prove a fertile hunting ground for shareholder activism, with US-based investors spearheading a significant proportion of public campaigns during 2023. These seasoned investors with a track record...more
Vinson & Elkins’ Shareholder Activism practice co-heads Lawrence Elbaum and Patrick Gadson will discuss how companies need to prepare against the year round attacks by shareholder activists. In a conversation moderated by...more
Hi In “a tale of wins and losses on both sides,” the Delaware Court of Chancery reiterated that advance notice bylaws adopted amid an approaching proxy contest are reviewed through the lens of enhanced judicial scrutiny to...more
A flurry of recent lawsuits in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June decision on affirmative action have further muddied the waters for public companies trying to thread their way through competing interests....more
In this V&E+ interview, Lawrence and Patrick share their thoughts on the 2023 proxy season, peacetime preparation for activism defense, and the HBO show that no one could seem to stop talking about....more
Following a brief decline during the pandemic, shareholder activism in the US rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2022 despite—or perhaps because of—volatile markets, depressed share prices and macro-economic uncertainty....more
A Q&A guide to the use of shareholder activism in Canada. The Q&A gives a high-level overview of the use and goals of shareholder activism, the regulation of shareholder activism, and the strategies and tools used by...more
Vinson & Elkins’ Shareholder Activism practice co-heads Lawrence Elbaum and Patrick Gadson will be conducting a CLE presentation advising companies on how to prepare against the year round attacks by shareholder activists....more
The number of shareholder proposals made by activist shareholders, votes against management proposals and the number of publicly listed companies facing shareholder proposal continues its upward trend....more
Post De-SPAC public companies saw an unprecedented number of shareholder activism campaigns during the 2021 and 2022 proxy seasons. The vast majority of these campaigns took the form of short attacks and proxy fights against...more
Alston & Bird will host this live seminar from our Atlanta office in addition to a live webcast. Learn about key developments and issues facing companies and investors and what you need to do to prepare for the 2022 proxy...more