Real Estate

Shareholder Activism
Situation

The independent board of a leading company was poised to lose control as activist shareholders amassed shares and conducted a public campaign to discredit management and damage investor sentiment towards the Company.

Strategy & Tactics
  • We identified that activist shareholders were pushing negative stories in the media ahead of an Annual Meeting, in a bid to gain control of the Board of Directors.
  • We quickly leveraged our relationships with leading U.S. media outlets to counter the negative coverage with balanced reporting on the credibility of management and their ability to successfully turn the company around. In parallel, we launched an outreach program to the Company’s leading institutional shareholders and shareholder advisory agencies.
  • In the press, and through individual meetings, the CEO was able to communicate to international investors, who owned more than half of the stock, to encourage support for the Company’s slate of Board nominees and its turnaround plan.
  • We developed a communication plan for a forthcoming write down, highlighting management’s turnaround plan and a targeted set of metrics by which to track management’s execution.
Results
  • Management retained control of the Board at the Annual Meeting.
  • The Company’s stock price fell just 4% following the industry’s largest-ever quarterly write down.