00:00Let's go straight to Scarlett Foo, who's been taking a look at the setup for activist investors in the second
00:04half of this year. Scarlett.
00:06That's right, Danny. Activist investors looked past volatile markets and geopolitical risks, embarking on a record number of campaigns in
00:12the first six months of the year.
00:14According to Lazard, activism was up 20 percent year over year to 184 campaigns. That's that yellow bar.
00:20That represents a 38 percent increase over the five-year average.
00:24When you break it down, the U.S. and Asia, in particular Japan, saw the most action, while Europe, the
00:30blue slice there, saw a decline in activity.
00:33And what exactly were these activists seeking? The usual M&A and board changes, along with capital allocation demands.
00:39But interestingly, artificial intelligence also starting to become a theme.
00:43For instance, Elliott Investment Management has been pushing London Stock Exchange to speed up its deployment of AI across its
00:49platform to narrow a gap, a valuation gap with its U.S. peers.
00:53And more recently, Bloomberg learned that Elliott built up a large stake in car insurance software providers, CCC Intelligence Solutions.
01:01Taking a step back globally, tech is the most actively targeted sector after industrials.
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