Activist investors have never been busier. The Activist Investing Annual Review 2019, produced by Activist Insight with law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel, noted there were 922 companies targeted in 2018 worldwide, compared with 856 in 2017.
Asia hit a record high in 2018 with 111 companies targeted, slightly lower than the figure of 148 for Europe. Some 20% of total activist shareholder funds are now deployed outside the English-speaking world — and national campaigns have been launched in various European countries, including France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain.
