By Rebecca Ungarino

Activist shareholder groups have launched a record-high number of campaigns against companies this year, driven by a mix of heightened activity in Asia, a friendlier regulatory environment for mergers and acquisitions, and more campaigns targeting financial firms.

Activist investors launched 184 new campaigns globally in the first and second quarters, up 20% in a year and nearly 40% above the five-year average for that period, according to Lazard.

The uptick also reflected a growing number of campaigns featuring demands around how companies are using artificial intelligence, the investment bank said in a report on Wednesday.

More are on the way, experts say.

"Prepare for more, and more focused, campaigns," Cleary Gottlieb lawyers wrote in a report in June. "A concentrated group of sophisticated funds is running more campaigns, though fewer now yield board seats."

The prominent New York activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management, led by Paul Singer, launched 13 new campaigns in the first and second quarters, Lazard's report said. That's up 86% in a year.

In February, Elliott said it had built a "significant stake" in the London Stock Exchange Group, known as LSEG. Elliott had also taken a stake in Synopsys, the chip-design software maker, Barron's reported in March. Jesse Cohn, a managing partner at Elliott, joined the board of Synopsys last month as part of an agreement between the two firms.

Activity in Asia and the U.S. led the global campaign uptick in the first six months of the year. Activists that specialize in the Asia-Pacific region such as Dalton Investments, Oasis Management, and Strategic Capital were among the busiest players, Lazard's data showed.

Over the past year, activists are also targeting financial institutions more often than they have in the past.

The founders of HoldCo Asset Management, a Florida-based firm, told Barron's in April that they recently initiated investments in Beacon Financial, a Boston-based lender, and Bank of Hope.

"What you can control, indisputably, is how you allocate capital," Vik Ghei of HoldCo told Barron's in April. "Yet, many banks refuse to have any sort of framework to evaluate that, and certainly don't communicate about it. To us, that is the cardinal sin."

Activists at Jana Partners have meanwhile built a stake in the financial-tech company Fiserv, whose shares have underperformed the market, The Wall Street Journal reported in February.

All of this activity should be a boon for the lawyers and advisors who work with companies dealing with activist investors. It may also be a way for firms to expand or start relationships with corporate clients.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, whose bank has a large activist defense group, said last fall that working with a client "at a time of need" can mean they turn to those advisors for other assignments down the line.

Write to Rebecca Ungarino at rebecca.ungarino@barrons.com

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