Peter Bell
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
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Peter Bell - Managing Director , Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Peter is a Managing Director in the European Mergers and Acquisitions team of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He leads the UK M&A team and has responsibility for Activism across Europe. He has a 22 year track record in mergers and acquisitions and has advised on over $90bn of transactions in the UK market and across Europe, Asia and the US. His experience includes the full range of investment banking transactions including activist defence, public takeover offers (both recommended and hostile), mergers, private sales and acquisitions, joint ventures, leveraged buy-outs, public-to-private buy-outs and equity and debt issues. He has worked on several activist defences including two campaigns for 3i and Intercontinental Hotels Group. Peter has a BA(Hons) degree from the University of Durham and previously served as an officer in the British Army with the 1st Bn The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment).
Josh Black
Activist Insight
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Josh Black - Editor , Activist Insight
Josh Black is a journalist for Activist Insight Limited and editor of their subscription-based print magazine, Activism Monthly Premium.
Ian Burger
Newton Investment Management
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Ian Burger - Head of Corporate Governance , Newton Investment Management
Ian is the Head of corporate governance at Newton Investment Management, a subsidiary of BNY Mellon. Since joining Newton’s team of research analysts he is now responsible for corporate governance matters throughout Newton’s investment process; from stock selection through to voting. Outside of Newton, Ian is involved in shaping the debate on corporate governance through his membership and participation in a number of formal and informal groups such as the NAPF’s Stewardship Advisory Group and by chairing of the International Corporate Governance Network’s remuneration committee. Ian is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and a trustee of its three charities.
Jonathan Cobb
Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment
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Jonathan Cobb - Governance & Stewardship Director , Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment
Jonathan is a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) and holds an MA (Hons) from the University of Edinburgh. He has over 25 years of experience in the fund management industry running both UK equity and multi-asset portfolios. He has held senior fund management positions at Cazenove Asset Management, Standard Life Investments and Fidelity.
Abe Friedman
CamberView Partners
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Abe Friedman - Managing Partner , CamberView Partners
Abe M. Friedman is the Founder and Managing Partner of CamberView Partners. CamberView advises boards and management teams of public companies on how to succeed with their investors in the context of shareholder activism and engagement. Prior to founding CamberView, Abe was a Managing Director at BlackRock where he served as the Global Head of Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment. Abe lead a team of 18 professionals in six offices around the globe. Prior to his role at BlackRock, Abe was the Global Head of Corporate Governance at Barclays Global Investors (BGI). Before joining BGI, Abe served as Chief Policy Officer and General Counsel for Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC, a corporate governance and proxy research firm. Abe joined Glass Lewis upon its founding and developed and led Glass Lewis’ proxy research business.
Leo Groothuis
NautaDutilh
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Leo Groothuis - Partner , NautaDutilh
Leo Groothuis is a partner in the Dutch law firm NautaDutilh. He focuses his practice on M&A. Recent transactions in which Leo was involved include the pending take-over of TNT by Fedex and the aborted take-over of KPN by América Móvil. Leo lectures regularly on Dutch defense mechanisms against hostile take-overs and shareholder activism. He spent more than three years in NautaDutilh's New York office and he received LL.M. degrees from Universiteit Utrecht and University College London.
Lucinda Guthrie
Dealreporter
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Lucinda Guthrie - Deputy Global Editor , Dealreporter
Lucinda manages a global team of journalists who cover breaking news on corporate events involving listed companies. Her team provides intelligence for the equity markets that is tailored to hedge funds, proprietary trading desks, security lending, ECM syndicate desks and institutional fund managers. With eleven years’ experience of business journalism, Lucinda has reported on markets and corporate events in Europe, Latin America and Asia. She has covered a wide range of activist situations spanning from Centaurus and Paulson’s engagement with Stork Holdings in 2006 to Elliott Advisors ongoing campaign with Kabel Deutschland. Lucinda joined The Mergermarket Group in 2006 and, before managing the European editorial team, she was deputy editor for Dealreporter Asia.
Richard Hall
Cravath, Swaine & Moore
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Richard Hall - Partner , Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Richard Hall is a partner in Cravath’s Corporate Department. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance advice and matters relating to activist defense. Mr. Hall is Cravath’s Head of the Mergers and Acquisitions practice for EMEA. Mr. Hall’s clients have included Archer Daniels Midland Company, Banco Santander, Barrick Gold Corporation, ConocoPhillips, Hochtief AG, The Linde Group, Royal Dutch Shell, Time Warner Inc., Weyerhaeuser Company, The Williams Companies, Inc. and Xstrata plc. Mr. Hall’s recent notable representations include Life Technologies Corporation in its US$15.8 billion sale to Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., The Linde Group in connection with its US$4.6 billion acquisition of Lincare Holdings Inc. and the special committee of the independent directors of CNH Global N.V. as U.S. counsel in connection with the merger of Fiat Industrial S.p.A. and CNH Global with and into CNH Industrial N.V. Mr. Hall has also acted on behalf of Time Warner Inc. on M&A and regular corporate matters, including the recent separations of Time Warner Cable and AOL and the announced separation of Time Inc. He has also acted for Weyerhaeuser on its recent white paper, containerboard and homebuilding divestitures.
Daniel Kerstein
Barclays
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Daniel Kerstein - Managing Director, Head of Strategic Finance Group , Barclays
Mr. Kerstein is the head of Barclays global activist defense practice, which focuses solely on the defense of corporate clients against shareholder activism. Select transaction experience includes defense and financial advisor on Staples Inc. merger with Office Depot; defense and capital structure advisor to Juniper Networks; defense and restructuring advisor to Hertz Corporation; defense advisor to Aeropostale. He led the IPO and listed vehicle structuring effort for several alternative asset managers, including Fortress, Blackstone, and Harbourvest. He joined Barclays from Lehman Brothers in 2008. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers in 2003, he was VP in Corporate Finance at Merrill Lynch. Mr. Kerstein holds a B.A. from Queens College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Kai Haakon Liekefett
Vinson & Elkins
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Kai Haakon Liekefett - Partner , Vinson & Elkins
Kai is the head of Vinson & Elkins’ Shareholder Activism Response Team and a corporate partner with 15 years of experience practicing in Houston, New York, London, Duesseldorf, Hong Kong and Tokyo. He has extensive experience advising companies on shareholder activism campaigns, including proxy contests. Moreover, he represents domestic and international companies, as well as financial advisors, in public and private mergers & acquisitions. Kai holds a Ph.D., magna cum laude, from Freiburg University; an Executive MBA, summa cum laude from Münster Business School; and an LL.M., James Kent Scholar, from Columbia Law School. He is admitted to practice in New York, Texas and Germany.
Felix Lo
Sandell Asset Management
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Felix Lo - Managing Director , Sandell Asset Management
Felix is a managing director for Sandell based in London. Formerly based in Sandell’s New York office where he focused on US and Asian equity special situations, including the firm’s activist investments, Felix relocated to London in 2013 where he is responsible for the firm’s equity special situations strategy in Europe and Asia. Prior to Sandell, Felix was a co-founder of Granite Fund Advisors, a Hong Kong based equities fund, where he was CEO and responsible for the firm’s global event-driven investments. Felix began his career at Evercore Partners, a leading boutique investment bank based in New York. Felix graduated magna cum laude from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Engineering School with a dual degree in Finance and Computer Science.
Maura McLaughlin
Arthur Cox
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Maura McLaughlin - Partner , Arthur Cox
Maura advises international and domestic public and private companies on all aspects of company law, compliance and governance issues. She has extensive experience of advising on public and private mergers and acquisitions, with particular emphasis on takeovers, schemes of arrangement and mergers. Maura has employed this experience to achieve client’s strategic objectives, notably in the design and implementation of structures permitting the inversion or migration of holding companies to Ireland. Equity capital markets work is another area of focus: Maura regularly advises on Irish securities laws, and has acted for companies, investors and underwriters on listings and fundraisings.
Jim McNally
Schulte Roth & Zabel
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Jim McNally - Partner , Schulte Roth & Zabel
Jim McNally, a partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel, focuses his practice on corporate and transactional matters for private equity and other investment funds, including shareholder activism. He has extensive experience in acquisitions, disposals and joint ventures with respect to interests in a wide range of asset classes including acquiring, divesting and demerging investment management businesses and interests therein, as well as fundraisings for new and established fund managers. Jim is a member of the firm’s European shareholder activism practice and has represented activist funds in connection with interests in a number of U.K. and European targets.
Blake Nixon
Worsley Associates
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Blake Nixon - Founding Partner , Worsley Associates
Blake Nixon is a founding partner of Worsley Associates, manager of Worsley Investors PLC - which targets strategic holdings in small listed British companies whose shares are trading at deep discounts to intrinsic value. The Fund’s objective is to achieve superior returns over its medium-term [investment] horizon through addressing the causes of the discounts. Worsley will employ the full suite of British activist shareholder tactics to this end. The fund is open ended and currently pursuing an initial fund raising. From 1990 to 2011 Blake was the UK Executive Director of Guinness Peat Group, London, one of the pioneers of UK corporate activism. He has wide corporate experience in the UK and overseas and has been a director of numerous companies.
Adam Riches
Activist Insight
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Adam Riches - Senior Account Executive , Activist Insight
Adam Riches joined Activist Insight shortly after it was founded in 2012. He was involved with the design and the development of the database prior to launch before working in the firm’s research department and contributing to Activism Monthly magazine. He now leads Activist Insight’s sales operation and is a regular attendee at activist events across the globe.
Nelson Seraci
Institutional Shareholder Services
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Nelson Seraci - Vice President, M&A and Proxy Contest Research , Institutional Shareholder Services
Nelson Seraci joined ISS in 2006 and is currently in charge of M&A and proxy contest research in Europe. Before joining ISS, Nelson worked for five years at McKinsey & Co. as a Financial Institutions research analyst in South America, and as a research manager in Spain. His previous experience includes working as a credit analyst for two commercial banks: Credit Lyonnais and Banco Macro, an Argentinian bank. Nelson holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and a Masters in Bank Management.
Katrina Sikavica
University of Zurich & Director, Talent and Leader
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Katrina Sikavica - Researcher in Residence , University of Zurich & Director, Talent and Leader
Kate Sikavica has spent 10 years in academia studying ownership of organizations. Beyond shareholdings and property rights, she is interested in cognitions and emotions underlying ownership of organizations and the implications thereof for organizational members’ behavior, shareholder activism and firm valuation. Kate holds an MA in communication science (University of Zürich, Switzerland) and a PhD in international management (University of St. Gallen, Germany) and am the recipient of the Swiss National Science Foundation and the European Union's Marie Curie IEF fellowships. She has received part of her training and conducted investigations at the Kellogg School of Management (Northwerstern University, USA), the Ludwig-Maximilian’s University (Munich, Germany), the W.P. Carey School of Business (Arizona State University, USA), and the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania, USA). She is researcher in residence at the University of Zurich Switzerland, and Director of Talent and Leadership Strategies at Korn Ferry, Switzerland.
Dr. Daniel Summerfield
USS Investment Management
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Dr. Daniel Summerfield - Co-Head of Responsible Investment , USS Investment Management
Daniel co-heads the Responsible Investment Team of USS Investment Management, the fund manager for Universities Superannuation Scheme, the UK's largest pension fund. He is responsible for leading USS’s work to improve the corporate governance performance of companies, funds and markets in which USS invests and ensuring the investment processes identify and integrate key operational, strategic and governance risks to which the fund is exposed. Daniel serves as a member of a number of committees in the UK and overseas including the NAPF’s Stewardship Advisory Group and the ICAEW’s corporate governance committee. Previously, he was the head of corporate governance at the Institute of Directors where he was responsible for the IoD’s work on corporate governance. Daniel also currently serves as a chair of governors and trustee of a local school and is an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the Cass Business School of the City University London.
Marcos Veremis
Cambridge Associates
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Marcos Veremis - Managing Director , Cambridge Associates
Marcos is a Managing Director in Cambridge Associates’ London office. He works with a number of universities, foundations, independent schools, sovereign wealth funds and private clients in the U.S., Europe and Africa. Marcos specializes in asset allocation, manager evaluation and portfolio construction. Marcos is also involved in market and manager research and he is the author of two firm white papers, Introduction to Short Selling for U.S. Investors (2010) and Introduction to Activist Investing (2012). Marcos also specializes in hedge fund manager evaluation and portfolio construction.
Peter Wand
Debevoise & Plimpton
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Peter Wand - International Counsel , Debevoise & Plimpton
Dr. Peter Wand, international counsel in our Frankfurt office, is a member of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity and Financial Institutions Groups. His practice covers corporate reorganizations, private and public M&A transactions. In addition, he advises companies and their directors in connection with all aspects of corporate governance, from compliance to crisis management and disclosure matters. In Chambers Global (2015) where Dr. Wand is ranked for Corporate/M&A work in both Germany and the US, a source noted that he is “always available and always delivers the right answer.” He is also ranked by Chambers Europe (2014) for Corporate/M&A work and recommended for his “outstanding knowledge of the subject matter and client service.” Chambers Global (2013) cites sources describing Dr. Wand as described as “very responsive, pragmatic and business-focused. He's an excellent bridge between the U.S. and German cultures and comes up with creative proposals for both laws.” Dr. Wand has published numerous articles relating to corporate law/M&A issues. He is a frequent speaker at seminars, and is also a member of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association’s Investor Regulation Working Group.
Trelawny Williams
Fidelity Worldwide Investment
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Trelawny Williams - Head of Corporate Finance , Fidelity Worldwide Investment
Trelawny began his career in 1979 with Brown Brothers Harriman & Co in New York as a Corporate Finance Analyst. In 1982 he returned to London and joined MMG/Patricof Ltd (now Apax) before moving to Morgan Grenfell & Co in 1983. In 1987 Trelawny joined Prudential Bache where he became a Director and in 1992 he left to become Corporate Development Advisor at George Wimpey Plc. In 1995 he moved to pursue a substantial private equity opportunity in the housebuilding sector and he subsequently joined M&G in 1996 where he became their corporate governance officer with a particular focus on shareholder engagement and activism. Trelawny joined Fidelity Worldwide Investment in 2001 and he is responsible for Fidelity Worldwide Investment’s corporate governance and engagement activities. Trelawny has a BA in Economics from the University of North Carolina where he was a John Motley Morehead Scholar and he has a Masters in Business Administration from INSEAD. From 2008 to 2011 Trelawny was an adviser to the European Commission on corporate governance and he currently serves as Chairman of the Investment Association’s Governance & Engagement Committee. He also serves on the CBI Companies Committee and the Code Committee of the Panel of Takeovers & Mergers.
