Activist Investors Winning Board Seats More Often

In a growing sign of the success of the activist investing strategy, activist campaigns for board seats are at a five year high, according to a report by Factset.

The tactic is off to a strong start in 2014, as activist investors were granted one or more board seats at 16 U.S. companies, again the most in five years.   Notable successful activist investor fights for board seats in early 2012 were waged by Elliott Management Corporation at Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR) and Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ:CPWR); GAMCO Asset Management Inc. at Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp (NYSE:AP); and JANA Partners LLC at QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP).

“While...