Shareholder Advisory/Activism Explained?
I know there are some older threads on this but they don't seemed to be getting much traction anymore so I wanted to start a new discussion. I've been seeing a lot of job postings and general talk about the field of shareholder advisory/activism + corporate governance. I had a few questions regarding this space:
Is there a "definitive" ranking to the banks in this space? I know Goldman, Lazard, Houlihan, Citi, PJT, Evercore, and some other banks have dedicated groups. Which are known to be the "best" on the street?
I know this is a newish space but how are junior people seen? What do exit opps look like for analysts? Do they move to the buy-side? Is it easy for them to move into over product or coverage groups? Are they "stuck" in this niche space?
Are people compensated similar to other product groups? Do bonuses in activism/corporate governance match other, more "traditional IB employees"?
Any insight would be great! Just wanted to see some input if you guys had, thanks!!
Bump?
Bump
To add to your list, MS also has Shareholder Activism/Defense and it sits under their M&A group but does not overlap with any traditional M&A work. Just housed under the M&A umbrella
Could I PM you?
Sure
Goldman is traditionally the most known for its defence advisory and has a group dedicated for it.
It was well known because of Bill Anderson who was a pioneer in the field. Recently left to head EVR’s shareholder advisory though. PJT also recently acquired Camberview. Looks like EBs are placing more emphasis on this business as a revenue stream? Teams seem rather small within BBs
I've head that some of the senior team at Camberview left to Evercore too. EB's are certainly trying to diversify their business models as competition is increasing (more EBs competing for similar deals)
It’s difficult to create a list since many banks won’t publicly announce campaigns they’re advising on (but some do; see Goldman w/ AT&T/Elliott) - however, if I had to guess, I’d say GS/MS at the top, with EVR/PJT next, then LAZ. CS is ok, others are irrelevant and/or only work on small campaigns. If you are at any of the first four firms I mentioned doing activism defense, you’ll be set up well. I’m not sure what the exit opps look like since these groups are a bit new, but some people switch over to traditional M&A after 1-2 yrs. As for pay, if you’re working at a top 4 group, you’ll make about the same as the other groups.
My bank had a small Activism and Defense team that had a dedicated MD and at one point an Analyst. Now it's a rotational thing where a quarter of the new Analyst class has to do the work for each quarter of the year.
For the most part this is treated like prospecting unless an activist investor has actually launched a campaign. It's regular presentations to potential clients about their shareholder concentration and their current activism defense approaches, schooling them on poison pills, etc. When an activist actually launches a campaign and that leads to M&A, the Activism and Defense people kind of serve as advisors, but an actual deal team is stood up to handle the deal alongside.
In my experience because the Activism people aren't really doing deals, there aren't as many exit opportunities since you're just not getting the reps. Presumably where I was noticed that and that's why they just treat it as a rotation. Not sure how it is at other firms.
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