Activist investor Cevian has increased its stake in Pearson to nearly 9pc, raising expectations that it will push for a seat on the board of the struggling textbook publisher. Europe’s largest activist investor now owns 8.46pc of the FTSE 100 company, up from 7pc two weeks ago and 5.4pc in June, making it the company’s third-biggest investor...

A boardroom row has erupted at Aviva over its refusal to trigger a radical break-up plan designed to drag the insurer out of its prolonged stock market slump . It is understood that some of its top directors have been pushing for the struggling FTSE-100 insurer to consider splitting itself in two amid concerns that it could become the target of an aggressive activist investor...

A Los Angeles hedge fund has wrestled control of Domino's Pizza's boardroom overhaul as the takeaway firms fights to end a long-running row with its franchisees. Activist investor Browning West was handed a seat on the board and will lead the search for the company's top two jobs of chairman and chief executive. In a move that could delay a resolution to the crippling row with franchisees, chief executive David Wild is to stay on longer than previously thought...

D e La Rue has hit back at activist investor Crystal Amber’s threats to oust the banknote and passport printer’s chairman at next week’s annual meeting as “precipitous and destabilising” for the company. Crystal Amber - De La Rue’s third-biggest investor with a 6.3pc stake - warned the company on Tuesday it would call a special meeting unless chairman Philip Rogerson stepped down on or before the July 25 annual meeting...

A s soon as bookseller Barnes & Noble hoisted the “for sale” sign in October, hedge fund Elliott, best known for its adversarial approach to business, swooped in with an offer. Eight months later, it emerged the victor in the bidding war for the struggling US bookshop chain . The $683 m (£540 m) deal, however, left industry bosses and rival hedge funds scratching their heads...

FirstGroup’s cornerstone investors will this week urge the company’s interim chairman to acquiesce to demands made by a US activist...

I AG, the company that owns British Airways, has reshuffled its boardroom with boss Willie Walsh picking a new sidekick. The FTSE 100 airline group, which also has Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling in its stable, said chief financial officer Enrique Dupuy de Lôme will step down in June and be replaced by Steve Gunning, the CFO of British Airways. The changes mean that for the first time IAG will be run by two executives from the British Airways side of the business...

HP’s $11bn (£8.4bn) acquisition of Autonomy triggered a “poisonous” boardroom feud as competing factions jostled for influence at the top of the US technology giant, the High Court heard on Tuesday. HP wrote down the majority of the value of Autonomy in 2012, less than a year after it had acquired the UK software company in a disastrous deal...

Barclays has shaken up its board just weeks after major shareholders pushed incoming chairman Nigel Higgins to bring in new blood. Mike Turner, the former boss of BAE Systems and until recently the chairman of Babcock, will step down from the board along with former Goldman Sachs banker Reuben Jeffery and economist Dambisa Moyo...

Barclays’ top shareholders have emphatically rejected Edward Bramson’s attempted boardroom coup after it emerged that the corporate raider was ramping up his fight for a board seat. Mr Bramson has taken his battle with Barclays up several notches after promising to table a vote on “the composition of the board” at the bank’s general meeting in May. His demand for a place at the top was spurned by the bank’s bosses late last year...

North Sea oil producer Faroe Petroleum has seen off a boardroom power grab by its largest shareholder which retreated from plans to replace two board members with its own executives. Faroe was braced to take on Norwegian oil giant DNO in a showdown over its calls to install Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, DNO’s chairman, and Bjørn Dale, DNO’s managing director, at the boardroom table...

Activist investor Crystal Amber has warned the banknote printer De La Rue that it is ready to increase its stake to pile pressure on boss Martin Sutherland."..

The boss of Premier Foods has said it is open to selling off some brands ahead of a showdown with activist investor Oasis at the Mr Kipling maker’s annual meeting today. Oasis has called for investors to vote against the re-election of chief executive Gavin Darby after Premier sparked a furious row by opting not to sell off its fast-growing Batchelors brand , but last night Mr Darby told reporters he was open to divestments at the right price...

Barclays is preparing for a potential showdown with notorious New York-based corporate raider Ed Bramson at its annual general meeting in London on Tuesday...

Unilever faces a stand-off with shareholders over executive pay next month, after two influential shareholder advisory firms urged investors to reject the consumer goods giant's proposals. Unilever is attempting to swap its 'base salary' for a consolidated 'fixed pay' structure, which would mean it could hand larger pay rises and bonuses to its executives...

"Think Smart” yell the billboards across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. “Tell BHP it’s time for CHANGE.” The slogan is a play on BHP Billiton’s recently unveiled strapline “Think Big”, and the advertising campaign is the latest salvo from activist investor Elliott Advisors, which wants the world’s biggest mining company to shake up its strategy. Elliott, the New York-based hedge fund founded by Paul Singer, has a history of aggressive campaigns...

Some companies are simply “paying lip service” to their shareholders' complaints about boardroom bonuses and governance rules, according to one corporate watchdog. Despite several years of bruising rebellions from investors unhappy at directors, pay packets and business decisions, a few of Britain’s biggest listed firms continue to give vague or non-existent explanations for falling short of the rules.

An activist investor has declared war on Walt Disney, vowing to claw back almost €1bn in “egregious fees” levelled against its struggling French offshoot. French asset manager CIAM has accused the Mickey Mouse creator of crippling the spin-off Disneyland Paris theme park with grossly inflated costs in an effort to increase its 77pc stake on the cheap...

Mrs May said at the CBI Conference that the forthcoming Green Paper will be a “genuine consultation” with businesses on “what works” for employee representation Christopher Williams , Chief Business Correspondent 01pm T he Prime Minister has ruled out forcing companies to appoint workers to boards or create continental-style dual boards, despite her earlier complaint that too many directors are drawn from the same narrow social and professional circles. Speaking at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Annual Conference, Theresa May said that the Government would publish a Green Paper within ...

Ryanair investors rebel against pay Pirc has warned that Ryanair may be overpaying its boss, Michael O'Leary Ben Martin 14 September 2016 • 1:53pm I nvestors have once again rebelled against pay at Ryanair after an influential shareholder advisory group warned that the low-cost airline may be overpaying its outspoken boss, Michael O’Leary. Almost 15pc of votes cast at Ryanair’s annual general meeting in Dublin today went against the carrier’s remuneration report...

The bust-up over corporate governance at tool rental firm Speedy Hire is set to take another twist with influential shareholder advisory group ISS weighing in.

Activist investor Toscafund wants to remove Speedy Hire executive chairman Jan Astrand and replace him with David Shearer, the former chairman of Mouchel.

The proposals will be voted on at a general meeting on September 9, with Speedy Hire fighting the moves put forward by Toscafund. The activist investor is the largest shareholder in Speedy Hire, with almost a fifth of shares....

All the same, there is good reason to worry. As Carl Icahn, the US activist investor, has repeatedly pointed out, the parallels with 2007 are uncanny. Just as with mortgage-backed securities, there is virtually no liquidity left in corporate distressed ...

Morrisons has hired the boss of pub group Greene King as it takes its final step in repairing its board following a tumultuous year at the supermarket. The grocer will be calling on Rooney Anand’s experience of turning around businesses when he joins in ...

A split has emerged among shareholders in Rolls-Royce after investors expressed unease over the attempts of activist investor ValueAct to secure a board seat. A major investor in the aircraft engine-maker told The Sunday Telegraph that while it would ...