Fascinating Data About Proxy Solicitors And Legal Advisors In Contested Situations

Activist Insight Monthly, which regularly tracks info on contested situations, named Okapi Partners as the “Top Proxy Solicitor of 2019” - for the fourth consecutive year - based, we hasten to note, on the number of “deals” handled. The survey also named the leading superstars at each firm.

Here are the raw numbers:

If we were to rank the solicitors by gross revenues derived from proxy fights, the rankings would look a little different, with Innisfree & MacKenzie partners being in the lead, thanks to the high number of large and deep-pocketed issuers that flock to them when there are serious “troubles” on the horizon, but with Okapi coming on very strongly indeed, as they have done consistently, from their get-go - both in terms of issuers who hire them and especially because of their big lead with the biggest activists.

Morrow Sodali has been coming on strongly too, much as we’d predicted following Morrow & Co’s purchase by Sodali and the very much beefed-up bench of talent that followed. Georgeson has done especially well in the EU and UK of late, where their main point-person is very widely regarded.

DF King’s gross revenues are greatly under-stated by the fight statistics alone: We believe they have to biggest slice of the “standard” annuity-like proxy solicitation revenues by far, thanks to a very large, loyal and longstanding base of large-company clients, and a large base of mutual fund clients.

Another major-player in the proxy world is missing from the list - because of its focus on proxy fights - and that is Alliance Advisors: Now in its ninth year, they have grown strongly and steadily, every year - not just with small and mid-cap companies but with a growing stable of large and mega-cap companies, and with a strong mutual fund business as well. They have a very special niche when it comes to “saves” - where every year there are companies that suddenly find they are short of achieving a guaranteed quorum - or of having a proposal they want to pass - or want NOT to pass - missing the necessary margins. Here, Alliance’s well-oiled telephone-vote-getting machinery can spring into action overnight, to very often save the day.

The biggest surprise is to see Saratoga Proxy - which took a few excellent clients with them when the principal partners broke away from DFK a few years ago - and small but feisty InvestorCom - actually tied for second place in terms of the number of fights where activists were represented.

But as you scan the numbers, bear in mind especially that the biggest chunk of the total industry revenue comes from advisory work these days - and from behind the scenes work that ends up with negotiated settlements rather than with actual fights. Here, Innisfree, MacKenzie, Okapi …and lately Morrow Sodali are always among the top “picks” as advisors where larger-cap companies are concerned.

Activist Investor’s List Of The Top Law Firms In Proxy Fights Was Equally Interesting:

<p”>We were rather surprised to see so many of the “big-name, old-line firms” that once dominated the biggest deals - and one prominent ‘noisemaker’ that has been flooding the market with webinars on prepping for proxy fights - totally among the missing.

Readers may want to study up on the principle advisors on the Activist Insight lists by name, since, as we always advise, and as the numbers show, we think, this is a business where the people on your team make all the difference.