The role of the hostile activist shareholder has been taken up by a set of hedge funds. Hedge fund activism is characterized by mergers and corporate restructuring, replacement of management and board members, proxy voting, and lobbying of management. These investors target and research...

Over the past two decades, activist investors have begun to play an increasingly important role in corporate governance around the world. This book analyses the impact of activists on the companies that they invest, the effects on shareholders and on activists funds themselves.

The increase in institutional ownership of recent decades has been accompanied by an enhanced role played by institutions in monitoring companies' corporate governance behaviour. Activist hedge funds and private equity firms have achieved a degree of success in actively shaping the business...