Video Highlights - Bear Market Activism: Join The Spring 2022 CorpGov Forum Wednesday with Glass Lewis, Jefferies, Morrow, V&E, ICR

CorpGov and The Palm Beach Hedge Fund Association hosted The Spring 2022 CorpGov Forum featuring leading market participants and advisors who have consulted on board intelligence and the most prominent activism campaigns in recent years. During the 90 minute event, panelists discussed the implications of depressed share prices, lessons from the 2022 proxy season, ESG disclosures, “greenwashing” concerns, proxy advisor considerations and more with data from AI-enabled research platform Sentieo.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FULL REPLAY ON DEMAND or watch highlight videos with each panelist below:

Patrick Gadson, Partner and Co-Head of Shareholder Activism, Vinson & Elkins, discusses the current downturn as a novel event for younger activists, with traditional tools for injecting liquidity unavailable due to the elevated risk of losing control over heightening inflation.

Phil Denning, Partner, Co-Head of Special Situations, ICR, differentiates between companies sitting on strong balance sheets versus companies left to face an increased risk of receiving unsolicited bids.

Mark Grothe, Senior Research Analyst, M&A and Contested Situations, Glass Lewis, points to the changing macro environment as a catalyst for activism on the M&A side, with operational activists going so far as to stop pre-agreed deals from taking place given how different the picture now looks.

Alicia Ritcey, Senior Vice President, Governance Solutions, ICR, talks about matching the narrative with the practice once companies have successfully incorporated a focus on the important non-financial aspects of running the business into operations.

Keith Rosenbloom, Founder and Managing Member, Cruiser Capital, is still anticipating deals, albeit many subscale, as plans adapt to less capital availability in SPACs facing high redemption rates amid the changed climate.

Chris Young, Managing Director and Global Head of Contested Situations, Jefferies Financial Group Inc., talks about the importance of in-depth comparisons of peer companies to rule out systemic reasons for low performance, as full market slumps could affect all companies relatively equally.

Michael A. Verrechia, Managing Director, M&A and Activism Advisory Group, Morrow Sodali, talks about the importance of companies engaging with activist shareholders to address their concerns, especially as environmental issues have grown in prominence, beyond the ever-present low-hanging fruit of governance scrutiny.

Topics included: