21
May
Panel: Activist investing in Europe
Shareholder activism has been increasing in Europe in recent years, often focusing on M&A-related objectives like putting a company up for sale, pushing for adjusted terms in a transaction, etc. The panel will discuss updates and trends from current cases of activists and how supply chain disruptions, interest rates and ongoing geopolitical situations have made many firms targets, with growing focus on environmental, social and corporate governance causing concern.
- What are activist investors looking for in their targets?
- Are there any observable trends in terms of the type of objectives being pursued by activists in the current market environment?
- How can activism change the dynamics in the boardroom?
- What role do other stakeholders, such as long-only and passive investors, play for the success of activism?
- Where are activists having the most success these days – geographically, sector-wise, types of objectives? Areas that are best avoided?
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SpeakersChristopher Couvelier Managing Director & Head of the European Shareholder Advisory Lazard
Liad Meidar Founder and Managing Partner Gatemore Capital
Oliver Skutil Head of Special Situations Petrus Advisers
Anthony Kluk Head of Market - UK & Nordics Georgeson
Mark H. Shay Senior Partner Accendo Capital
Anette Jönsson Senior Editor DEALREPORTER & MERGERMARKET
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Christopher Couvelier is Managing Director, head of the European Shareholder Advisory practice. In his capacity, Mr. Couvelier advises clients in connection with preparing for and responding to shareholder activism as well as other strategic shareholder engagement, corporate governance and takeover defense matters. Mr. Couvelier is based in Paris and works closely with all of Lazard’s European offices.
Mr. Couvelier joined Lazard in 2014 in the Capital Markets Advisory Group in New York, where he focused on activism defense and shareholder matters in the U.S. market. Mr. Couvelier was appointed Managing Director in 2021. Prior to joining Lazard, he was a corporate lawyer at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York, where his practice focused on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, syndicated lending, corporate governance and shareholder activism.
Mr. Couvelier earned a B.A. with Distinction in Economics from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Liad Meidar oversees all aspects of portfolio management including our direct investments.
Prior to founding Gatemore in 2005, Liad had a background in both finance and operations, including running a Seattle-based technology company incubator. Liad began his career in New York in leveraged finance at BT Alex Brown, the investment banking division of Bankers Trust (Deutsche Bank).
Liad has extensive experience as a board member of companies undergoing turnarounds, including Jazz Technologies, a publicly-traded semiconductor wafer foundry based in Newport, California, and MAG Industrial Automation Systems, a privately-held global machine tool builder with dual headquarters in Michigan, USA and Germany.
Liad is Chairman of GSE Worldwide, Inc, a fully integrated talent and sports marketing agency which is a Gatemore Partners LP portfolio company. He also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council at Princeton University and on the Board of Trustees of the American School in London. He received an AB in economics from Princeton University.
Anthony has an extensive background in corporate advisory. He joined the firm in 2016 and has worked on many large-cap M&A transactions, such as Philip Morris' acquisition of Swedish Match, Flutter's acquisition of Stars Group, Takeda's acquisition of Shire, and Linde's merger with Praxair. Anthony has extensive experience in activism mandates across Europe and Asia, including BP's defence against Follow This, Toshiba's defence against Effisimo & Farallon, TCI vs London Stock Exchange, and Third Point vs Nestlé.
Prior to Georgeson, Anthony was a director at Loeb Aron & Co for 10 years, where he led a variety of advisory mandates including capital raising, debt-for-equity, new admissions, and proxy contests. Anthony studied physics at the University of Leeds and is certified by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI).
Roles as active owner in Accendo:
•Impact Coatings, Chairman, since 2018
•Modelon, Board of Directors, since 2021
•Hexatronic Group, Nominating Committee, since 2019
•Hexatronic Group, Board of Directors 2016-2018
•Doro, Nominating Committee, since 2015
•Cision, Nominating Committee, 2012-2014
Background in fundamental equity research and active ownership in European small cap companies
•Senior Equity Analyst, Coghill Capital Management, London & Chicago
•Manager, Accenture, USA/Latin America/Nordic
MBA, MIT Sloan School of Management, USA
- Wallenberg Foundation merit scholarship
M.Sc., B.Sc. Electrical Engineering, Northwestern Univ., USA
Swedish/U.S. dual citizen
A Swedish national, Anette moved to London last year after spending 23 years in Hong Hong, covering corporate news, ECM and M&A. Before leaving Asia she was editor of Dealreporter APAC, focusing on event-driven and special situations. Previous employers include FinanceAsia (where she covered ECM primarily for the website), South China Morning Post and Dow Jones Newswires.
In her current London-based role, she primarily edits stories on public and private market M&A as well as regulatory content.