Neue Zürcher Zeitung – Swiss Firms Beef Up Boards With Financial Activist Experts

With attacks from financial activists on the rise, companies are starting to beef up their boards with experienced experts, reports the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Both major concerns and smaller, family-run firms in Switzerland have launched board-level recruitment drives over the last 6 months, confirms Philippe Hertig, partner at Egon Zehnder in Zurich. Demand is strongest for experienced specialists from the hedge fund and private equity sectors in the USA and the UK. But specialist knowledge is not enough, warns Hertig. Candidates also need to demonstrate the traditional strengths of a director including a global perspective, multicultural sensitivity, leadership competences and personality. In Hertig’s experience, "Activist experts who have all of these qualities are very rare".

Full story: Natalie Gratwohl: "Wie sich Unternehmen gegen aktivistische Investoren schützen" ("How Companies Protect Against Activist Investors") in the Neuer Zürcher Zeitung (20 November 2017).