Program: Shareholder Activism Bootcamp
Shareholder activism has replaced the hostile takeover as the greatest threat to the control of public companies. In 2018 so far, there have already been over 280 activism campaigns and over 100 proxy fights – a new high water mark of reported incidents, not accounting for the countless unreported activist situations that occur every year.
Vinson & Elkins has the largest shareholder activism defense practice in the country, topping all the league tables in the past two years and counting. Led by Lawrence Elbaum and Patrick Gadson in NYC, Vinson & Elkins offers a shareholder activism boot camp that reviews the key players, themes and trends of shareholder activism. This boot camp also takes current and aspiring directors through a "mock proxy fight" - from the initial activist contact all the way to a contested election.
Vinson & Elkins‘ boot camp prepares directors to:
· manage meetings with celebrity activists, such as Carl Icahn, or with one of the other 200+ activist hedge funds;
· respond to public letters demanding board seats and/or a company sale;
· counteract public short reports attacking their companies; and
· win "live" proxy fights.
Lawrence and Patrick will provide attendees specific guidance on how to leverage the rising tide of shareholder activism into positions on new boards and prepare an activism preparedness assessment report for each public company represented by attendees. This report comes in the form of a short deck that analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each company's performance, defensive structure and corporate governance practices through the lens of a shareholder activist.