January 5, 2026

A&M European Activist Alert

The 2020s have seen periods of heightened global market turmoil. The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the war on Ukraine, additional geopolitical events including trade and tariff wars, and competition from Chinese corporates increasingly moving up the value chain, have presented significant challenges for corporates.

How should they respond strategically and operationally? How should they measure the success of their transformation? And who will the activists target next?

CREATIVE DISRUPTION – OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

REVIEW OF 2025 AND OUTLOOK FOR 2026

The creative disruption being generated by artificial intelligence (AI), geopolitical turmoil, and competition from Chinese corporates increasingly moving up the value chain, is presenting both opportunities and challenges. Shareholders will be looking for European corporates to capitalise on the opportunities and mitigate the challenges.

This sixteenth edition of the Alvarez & Marsal Activist Alert (AAA) highlights seven major themes that drive our predictions for shareholder activism in Europe over the next 18 months.


 

 

 

 

Whilst we do not publicly release individual company predictions, we would be delighted to discuss specific AAA modelling and analysis for any particular corporate with a senior member of the company.

Arrange a personalised de-brief with the A&M team by contacting a member of our team in your local region.

Get in touch today

Related Insights
Global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal (“A&M”) today announces the findings of its latest analysis and predictor of shareholder activism in Europe in 2022, the “A&M Activist Alert”, or “AAA”.
Global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal (“A&M”) today announces the findings of its latest analysis and predictor of shareholder activism in Europe, the “A&M Activist Alert”, or “AAA”. This snapshot edition of the study has identified 59 U.K. corporates that are predicted to face a public campaign by an activist investor in the near-term. The analysis predicts an uptick in activist focus on the consumer sector, which has until now been falling in attractiveness for activists.
The sixth edition of the study predicts that, following a resetting of the battlefield for activist investors due to the pandemic, there will be a renewed interest in U.K. targets through 2021. Despite a lull in activist campaigns during the first wave of COVID-19, the disruption wrought on the corporate landscape means that “crunch time” is fast-approaching for many companies that have underperformed during the crisis. The AAA also predicts that technology, healthcare and industrials will be the most targeted sectors.
Corporates in the U.K. targeted by activist funds outperformed the market and global peers before and during the pandemic
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