Shareholder activists launched more campaigns in 2015 than in any previous year on record. This is one of many findings in Thomson Reuters' Global Shareholder Activism Scorecard, a report published by Thomson Reuters Deals Intelligence. Practical Law's Corporate & Securities team proudly makes the report available to its subscribers.

The report documented a total of 507 activist campaigns in 2015, easily surpassing the prior record of 396 campaigns in 2012 and the 292 campaigns launched in 2014. Of the 507 campaigns, 15 were aimed at companies with a market value of $25 billion or more—well more than the nine such campaigns launched in 2014, but lower than the all-time high of 18 in 2013.

In spite of the surging popularity of activist campaigns, the report observes a noteworthy dichotomy, in which activists achieved a falling rate of success in 2015. The report found that activist shareholders achieved an outright-win rate of 24.4% and a partial-win rate of 3.8% in 2015, both lower than in the prior two years. On the other hand, the number of settlements reached between investors and shareholders increased. According to the report, 42.9% of activists' campaigns ended in settlement, with management achieving victory 13.7% of the time and another 14.9% of campaigns being withdrawn by the dissident shareholder.

The report also divides the year's campaigns by the activists' goals. The report found that in only 6.9% of the year's campaigns did the activist seek total board control, with another 4% of campaigns launched as part of a hostile takeover attempt. The most common goal of shareholder activists, expressed in 44.9% of the year's campaigns, was for the board to seek alternatives to its current strategy. In 26.3% of the year's campaigns, the activist sought board representation short of full control of the board.

The report includes several other statistics of note, including:

Practical Law has several resources to help counsel advise boards of directors on current trends in shareholder activism and recommendations on how to handle potential activist campaigns. These include: