ANALYSIS: SVB Collapse, Proxy Preparation Kept Q1 Activists Busy

With proxy season on the horizon, activist investors in Q1 eagerly launched campaigns and targeted industries potentially impacted by the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. But proxy fights are off to a slower start than usual as we head into Q2.

Activists launched a total of 135 public investor campaigns in Q1, pushing campaign counts to the highest first-quarter total since before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Bloomberg data.

So far, only 18 of those 135 campaigns (13%) have escalated to a proxy fight. But activism campaigns launched in the first quarter of the year are the most likely to involve ...