Our key takeaways from top activist investor trends for 2015 via TheDeal:
1) New bylaws: Look for companies to shift their bylaws around in order to get activists to provide more info to companies - namely on board nominees. This includes better disclosures on how much activists pay their board candidates.
2) Strong poison pills: This includes 2-tier poison pills and other anti-takeover devices. The "pills" help prevent activist investors from buying over 10% of the company, but they also prevent passive investors from doing the same. So, a 2-tier pill would still block an activist but allow passive investors to continue increasing their stake. Recall that Third Point was blocked from dismantling a 2-tier poison pill at Sotheby's ($BID) back in May.
3) Simplify the rules: This may seem somewhat strange as companies look to put in place more bylaws and stronger poison pills, but after the fallout from the Allergan ($AGN), Valeant ($VRX) and Bill Ackman fallout there's a lot of questions over shareholder meetings. Allergan had a convoluted system for requesting a special meeting.
4) Activist battle amongst themselves: More activist funds means less opportunities. Look for activists to start battling each other. Recall Jana Partners and Carl Icahn's opposing view on who should run Hertz ($HTZ). The battle to watch for in 2015 will be Groveland Capital's proxy battle to take over the board at the public activist fund Biglari Holdings ($BH).
5) Oil & Gas: The oil price fall will spark energy activism - companies in the space are just too cheap to ignore. They are the "low hanging fruit" of 2015. Activist targets could include Halcon Resources ($HK), Key Energy Services ($KEG) and Contango Oil & Gas ($MCF). The big angle is O&G companies overloaded with debt, which could force them into selling themselves.