Disney, Salesforce and Others Draw Activist ‘Swarm’ After Shares Decline


激进投资者日益扎堆涌向大公司，后者股价的跌势让这些投资者有了新的底气。


受到增长放缓和高管更替困扰的软件公司Salesforce至少面临着四名激进投资者。

激进投资者日益扎堆涌向大公司，后者股价的跌势让这些投资者有了新的底气。 6park.com
Shareholder activists, newly emboldened by beaten-down share prices, are increasingly crowding into the same big names. 6park.com
   
受到增长放缓和高管更替困扰的软件公司Salesforce Inc. (CRM)至少面对四名激进股东。华特迪士尼公司(Walt Disney Company, DIS)则被两个知名激进投资者盯上，其中一个正蓄势谋取一个董事会席位。云计算软件公司Splunk Inc. (SPLK)去年吸引了两名激进投资者的注意，玩具制造商孩之宝(Hasbro Inc., HAS)则击退了两名激进股东要求获得董事会席位的挑战。 6park.com
The software company Salesforce Inc., beset by slowing growth and executive turnover, faces at least four activists, while Walt Disney Co. has drawn the attention of two well-known activists, one of which is mounting a fight for a board seat. The cloud-software company Splunk Inc. last year drew two activists, and the toy maker Hasbro Inc. fended off a pair in a challenge for board seats. 6park.com
   
根据Lazard Capital Markets Advisory Group汇编的数据，在2022年，总共出现了17例美国公司被超过一名激进股东盯上的情况，投行人士将此种情况描述为扎堆行动。这比2021年的九例和2020年的七例有所增加。虽然2019年和2017年都出现了20例，不过业内专家预计，随着激进投资者活动整体增多，今年的这一数量将继续攀升。 6park.com
In all, there were 17 instances in which a U.S. company drew more than one activist in 2022, situations that bankers refer to as swarming, according to data compiled by Lazard Capital Markets Advisory Group. That was up from nine in 2021 and seven in 2020. While there were 20 instances in both 2019 and 2017, industry experts anticipate the number to continue to climb this year as overall levels of activism increase.



股市下跌帮助推动激进投资者活动增加，投资者借机推动表现落后的公司做出改变。Lazard发现，2022年美国有135起激进投资者活动，较前一年增加41%。 6park.com
A down market for stocks has helped drive up the volume of activist campaigns, as investors pounce on opportunities to push for change at underperforming companies. There were 135 activist campaigns in the U.S. in 2022, a 41% jump from the prior year, Lazard found. 6park.com
   
迪士尼和Salesforce等大公司正在艰难应对不受欢迎的收购和臃肿的成本结构等问题，而且它们的股票具有不错的流动性，这些公司尤其可能吸引多个激进投资者，原因很简单，在任何一个时点，只可能出现数量有限的此类机会。 6park.com
Big companies like Disney and Salesforce that are grappling with issues including unpopular acquisitions and bloated cost structures and have liquid stocks are particularly likely to draw multiple activists simply because there are only so many such opportunities at any given time. 6park.com
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高盛(Goldman Sachs)的股东激进主义和咨询业务全球主管Avinash Mehrotra表示：“许多老牌激进投资者都在寻求扩大投资规模。” 6park.com
“You’ve got a number of established activists who are all looking to make bigger and bigger investments,” said Avinash Mehrotra, global head of the activism and shareholder advisory practice at Goldman Sachs.


Dan Loeb去年购买了迪士尼的股份。

《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)上周报道称，Elliott Investment Management LP准备向Salesforce提名一系列董事人选，这可能预示着一场委托书之争；此前Elliott向这家商业软件公司进行了一笔数以十亿美元计的投资。去年10月，Starboard Value LP透露，该公司已持有数量未披露的Salesforce股份，理由是Salesforce的增长和盈利能力情况远远落后于同行。 6park.com
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Elliott Investment Management LP is preparing to nominate a slate of directors to Salesforce’s board after making a multibillion-dollar investment in the business-software company, potentially presaging a proxy fight. Starboard Value LP revealed in October that it had taken an undisclosed stake in Salesforce, arguing that the company’s mix of growth and profitability is far below that of its peers. 6park.com
   
据一位知情人士透露，Jeff Ubben麾下的Inclusive Capital Partners LP最近持有超过150万股Salesforce股份，价值约2.5亿美元。据知情人士称，Ubben之前的公司ValueAct Capital Partners LP也持有Salesforce的股份。Salesforce上周五宣布，ValueAct首席执行官Mason Morfit和另外两人被任命为独立董事，3月1日生效。 6park.com
Jeff Ubben’s Inclusive Capital Partners LP recently owned more than 1.5 million Salesforce shares, a stake worth about $250 million, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Ubben’s former firm, ValueAct Capital Partners LP, has a stake in Salesforce, according to people familiar with the matter. Salesforce announced Friday that ValueAct Chief Executive Mason Morfit and two others had been named independent directors, effective March 1. 6park.com
  
目前尚无法确定是否有其他激进投资者也盯上了Salesforce。 6park.com
It couldn’t be determined whether other activists are circling Salesforce. 6park.com
   
在迪士尼，激进投资者Nelson Peltz的公司Trian Fund Management LP在今年早些时候发起了委托书之争，试图争取一个董事会席位。去年，激进投资者Dan Loeb新买入了这家娱乐公司的股份。 6park.com
At Disney, Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management LP earlier this year kicked off a proxy fight for a board seat after Dan Loeb bought a new stake in the entertainment company last year. 6park.com
  
Loeb的Third Point LLC曾敦促迪士尼收购流媒体服务Hulu的剩余股份，探索分拆ESPN的可能性，并改组董事会。在迪士尼让科技业资深高管Carolyn Everson加入其董事会后，Third Point最终同意在迪士尼即将召开的年度会议上不提出自己的董事名单。 6park.com
Mr. Loeb’s Third Point LLC had called on Disney to buy the rest of the Hulu streaming service, explore spinning off ESPN and refresh its board. Third Point ended up agreeing not to propose its own slate of directors at Disney’s coming annual meeting after the company added the veteran technology executive Carolyn Everson to its board. 6park.com
  
如果有多个激进投资者发难，就能把本已令高管们头疼的事变成潜在的恶梦。 6park.com
Having multiple activists can turn what is already a headache for executives into a potential nightmare. 6park.com
   
律师事务所Vinson & Elkins LLP主管股东激进行动业务的联合主席Patrick Gadson说，激进投资者通常有他们自己的时间表和回报预期，因此，当不止一位激进投资者盯上同一只股票时，们的目标往往会发生冲突。 6park.com
Patrick Gadson, co-chair of the law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP’s shareholder activism practice, said activists usually have their own respective time horizons and return expectations, so that when more than one shows up in the same stock, their objectives often clash. 6park.com
   
“他们盯上了同一家公司，并不意味着他们有相似的既定目标，”Gadson称。“不排除基金公司在幕后联手的可能性，但这种情况很少。” 6park.com
“Just because they’re all there doesn’t mean they have similarly situated goals,” Mr. Gadson said. “It’s possible that the funds tag-team behind the scenes, but that is far less frequent.” 6park.com
   
无法确定这些激进投资者是否也对Salesforce有类似意图。据一位了解Ubben行动的人士称，Ubben已对Salesforce应对气候变化的计划和其他可持续发展举措表达兴趣。 6park.com
As for Salesforce, it couldn’t be determined whether the activists have similar intentions. Mr. Ubben has expressed an interest in the company’s steps to tackle climate change and other sustainability efforts, according to a person familiar with his effort. 6park.com
  
以鼓动并购交易和治理变革等行动而闻名的Elliott迄今仍对其就Salesforce的计划三缄其口，而Starboard尚未就如何促进增长和盈利提出任何具体建议。 6park.com
Elliott, known for advocating moves including M&A and governance changes, has so far been mum about its plans for the company, while Starboard has stopped short of making specific recommendations for how to boost growth and profitability. 6park.com
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Lazard的资本市场咨询业务主管Mary Ann Deignan表示，当激进投资者看到有交易可能达成时，往往会蜂拥而上，因为这意味着有机会实现股价“快速且可能是巨大的上涨”。事实上，Salesforce一直热衷于四处收购资产，根据FactSet慧甚的数据，Salesforce自2006年以来已经进行了72笔收购，这样的速度已经招致了一些分析师和投资者的批评。 6park.com
Swarming often takes place when activists see the potential for a deal, which presents an opportunity for a “quick and potentially meaningful upside,” said Mary Ann Deignan, head of capital markets advisory at Lazard. Indeed, Salesforce has been a voracious buyer, having made 72 acquisitions since 2006, according to data from FactSet, a pace some analysts and investors have started to criticize. 6park.com
   
Lazard的数据显示，2022年有65例激进投资者鼓动出售或分拆企业的案例，比2021年增加59%。 6park.com
There were 65 situations in 2022 in which activists agitated for a sale or a breakup of a business, a 59% increase from the prior year, according to Lazard.