FT Alphaville- The UK’s Financial Services Authority on Thursday embraced the growing numbers of activist hedge funds but warned them not to conspire to mislead the market.
The regulator issued guidelines for the first time to shareholder activists on what it would view as market abuse in response to calls from hedge fund activists for clarification of the FSA’s views. Concerns have been prompted by a sharp rise in aggressive stakebuilding by a number of hedge funds and specialist investment funds whose objective is to force change on companies.
Pick away at the FSA’s missive on market conduct, however, and “some of it amounts to a statement of the obviousâ€Â, notes Lombard. So why reiterate such long-standing principles? “For the simple reason that the more activist funds exist, the more likely it is that one will overstep the mark.â€Â
