Does Coordinated Institutional Investor Activism Reverse the Fortunes of Underperforming Firms?

We investigate the impact of Focus Listing by the Council of Institutional Investors on targeting poorly performing firms. Post-listing stock returns for the targeted firms differ insignificantly from those of a suitable benchmark group. Institutional investors increase their holdings of targeted firms, but not by more than those of the benchmark firms. Similarly, though analysts revise earnings forecasts up for Focus Listed firms, they do so well after the listing event and positive revisions are no greater than the benchmark group. Moreover, there appears to be little difference between Focus List and benchmark firms in the incidence of post-listing events such as mergers and stock repurchases. Overall, we find very little evidence of the efficacy of shareholder activism. List of underperforming firms. The CII is an organization of over 120 public and private pension funds. The total assets of its member funds exceed $1 trillion. The objective of the organization is to encourage member funds, as major shareholders, to take an active role in protecting plan assets. The CII's Focus List encourages members to direct their activism toward the boards of directors and managers of listed firms for the purpose of inducing them to make changes necessary to improve firm performance. By targeting selected firms for the collective attention of member funds, the list could enhance the effectiveness of their shareholder activism efforts. Our study examines the effectiveness of the coordinated shareholder activism produced by the CII Focus List.