NIGERIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Chinyerugo Ugoji, Tiwalola Osazuwa, Onyinyechi Chima and Edidiong Antai, ǼLEX
11. Activism 11.1 Shareholder Activism
SEC has also set out a code of conduct for share - holder associations to ensure that its members con - tribute positively to the affairs of public companies. It provides that member shareholders are to strive to influence policies that encourage investment and advance the interest of shareholders. 11.2 Aims of Activists See 11.1 Shareholder Activism . 11.3 Interference With Completion It is not uncommon for activists to seek to interfere with the completion of announced transactions.
Shareholder activism is an important consideration for boards of directors in Nigeria and includes activism from institutional investors and minority shareholder groups. Nigeria’s company and securities laws are minority shareholder-friendly and provide several tools for shareholder activists to adopt. Activists typically focus on corporate governance, management chang - es and changes to a company’s strategy. Shareholder activists may sometimes aim to frustrate minority buy - outs and “take private” transactions (ie, delistings). A few such transactions have been aborted in the past, largely due to the action of activists.
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