Publications
Publications
- March 2020 (Revised May 2020)
- HBS Case Collection
CIAM: Home-Grown Shareholder Activism in France
By: Charles C.Y. Wang, Tonia Labruyere and Vincent Dessain
Abstract
The case discusses the strategy of CIAM, a French activist investment firm, involved in a case of a buy-out of minority shareholders in the telecommunications sector. Altice NV, an international telecommunications company based in the Netherlands that owned more than 77% of SFR Group shares, made a bid for the remaining shares of France’s second largest mobile operator. Believing that the offer was woefully inadequate and constituted an abuse of power, CIAM had been fighting for a better offer as one of SFR’s vocal minority shareholders with a series of action plans—leveraging legal, communications, and public relations tactics. CIAM had just received a new piece of information, divulging a potential misuse of SFR corporate assets by Altice, and was discussing next steps.
Keywords
Corporate Governance; Private Equity; Strategy; Valuation; Investment Activism; Financial Services Industry; France
Citation
Wang, Charles C.Y., Tonia Labruyere, and Vincent Dessain. "CIAM: Home-Grown Shareholder Activism in France." Harvard Business School Case 120-072, March 2020. (Revised May 2020.)