At a time when volatile markets and a wide gap between buyer and seller price expectations have led to an increase in hostile mergers and acquisitions and unsolicited takeover approaches, company boards are also more vulnerable to activist investors and pension funds looking to influence strategy and the make-up of boards.

In France activist investor Guy Wyser-Pratte is seeking to wrest power from dominant general partner Arnaud Lagardère at media conglomerate Lagardère.