IW Leader: Why we should cheer activist investors

Last week Tom Dobell and the board of the M&G Recovery fund vented their increasing frustration with a particular oil company they have backed.

Criticising Gulf Keystone Petroleum, an AIM-listed oil group, M&G said the level of payouts to board members has been ‘excessive’, adding it is urgently seeking a meeting with the group’s chairman. The company hit back, saying M&G had been ‘disingenuous’ with its public statement, in particular its comments about a meeting with management, which Gulf Keystone said it had already been trying to arrange. It is fair to say end investors are usually fairly removed from these sporadic spats. One could question whether they even care, as long as the overall return from their funds stay posi...