What role does communication play when activist shareholders make demands on the management of a company? How can/should/may management react? On April 19, around 40 participants discussed these and other questions with Tibor Kossa, Head of M&A Germany and Austria, Credit Suisse, Hendrik Bender, Associate Director, Hering Schuppener, and Dr. Christoph Nawroth, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills, as part of the Communications Working Group at the offices of Herbert Smith Freehills in Frankfurt. Klaus Max Smolka, M&A journalist at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, chaired the discussion.
The association’s communications agency, Antenor Communication, had designed the working group and invited the participants. The panel participants agreed that the phenomenon of “activist investors” is likely to become increasingly important in the future. It will therefore become increasingly important for companies to prepare for such influence. In individual cases, management can analyze potential gateways for investors in advance and define defensive strategies and processes.
In an emergency, speed, a clear and convincing strategy and transparent and comprehensible communication were particularly important. At the same time, all panel participants also emphasized that the willingness of companies and the public to see shareholder demands as an opportunity for change that would perhaps be difficult to implement under normal circumstances is increasing. The questions and comments from the audience as well as the positive feedback from all participants after the event showed that this topic was well chosen due to its topicality.
