IR Monitor – 26 November 2025

In this week’s newsletter:

• UK offers rich pickings for activists: companies may wish they could lift valuations without being bothered, suggests the FT, but the cage-rattling stands to benefit investors
• Hong Kong reclaims global crown in IPO market surge: South China Morning Post
• Alpha shift fund managers can’t afford to miss: the market is pressuring companies to simplify their operations and boards are facing pressure to clarify their actions: Forbes
• Companies first, investors second? SEC to prioritise IPO filings over shareholder proposals amid shutdown backlog, reports Politico
• How leaders can build stakeholder trust in uncertain times: when companies focus on cost cutting and hoarding cash, they can alienate shareholders and others just when they’re needed most, warns the Harvard Business Review
• And finally … a world without IR? Old-school stock analysts are being pushed into private markets, where there are no public disclosure and no standardised metrics 

This week’s news

UK offers rich pickings for activists

In the 12 months to September, there has been a surge in UK-based activist investor campaigns, with 52 companies facing pressure, up 44% YoY thanks to low valuations and clear governance rules. According to the Financial Times, this may ultimately work in investors’ favour. The argument stems from the idea that, for investors, this increased scrutiny can help unlock value where share prices have drifted away from fundamentals, especially in a market where geopolitical uncertainty and the focus on AI have distorted attention and investment. Activists often act as catalysts for operational improvements while creating divestment which crystallises value, both of which can lift long-term shareholder returns. For the IR industry, this environment underscores the importance of clear communication and proactive engagement, as IR teams play a key role in navigating activist pressure, articulating decision-making rationale and ensuring that both challenges and improvements are transparently conveyed.

Hong Kong reclaims global crown in IPO market surge

Hong Kong has staged a remarkable comeback in global capital markets, surging to the top of the global IPO rankings in 2025, cites the South China Morning Post. From January to September, the city hosted 69 new listings and raised over US$24 billion (HK$188 billion) – more than triple the amount raised during the same period last year. This resurgence reflects a strong return of investor confidence, with the Hang Seng Index climbing 35% year-to-date. Global capital is flowing back into the region; sentiment echoed by Goldman Sachs Chairman David Solomon at the recent Hong Kong Monetary Authority Summit, where he noted that 80% of international investors have shifted into Chinese equities since last year. Much of the momentum is fuelled by renewed interest in Chinese tech, especially domestic AI leaders like DeepSeek. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) has also played a pivotal role, unveiling a series of pro-growth policies, such as new and expedited listing pathways for pre-revenue biotech and tech companies, streamlined rules for overseas issuers, and lowered public float requirements. The HKEX revealed a robust pipeline of over 300 active IPO applications aiming for listings by the end of 2025 or into 2026, indicating that Hong Kong’s IPO boom shows no signs of slowing.

Alpha shift fund managers can’t afford to miss – Forbes

According to Forbes, the old paradigm of easily generated alpha is over. In a world of higher interest rates, passive flows, and AI-driven trading, traditional sources of outperformance have become scarce. Instead, event-driven “structural alpha” is re-emerging: the kind that arises from corporate pressure points such as breakups, spin-offs, restructurings, refinancing and board challenges rather than from momentum or macro bets. These catalysts are being forced on companies by higher interest rates, which is bringing back pressure the market has not been subject to for more than a decade. Boards are facing pressure to clarify their actions. This is having a particular impact on companies with weak governance, or stretched balance sheets, creating valuation dislocations that human-focused, patient managers can exploit. AI and factor-based strategies struggle to interpret these complex, internal corporate dynamics, so fund managers who lean into corporate change, not just quantitative signals, are uniquely positioned to unlock value. Forbes argues the shift is already underway, and the gap between managers who see it and those who don’t is widening, making event-driven strategies a critical differentiator in today’s market.

Companies first, investors second? 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to concentrate on filings linked to companies who want to either go public, or to raise capital, over shareholder proposals as it works through a substantial backlog created by the 43-day government shutdown. According to Politico, senior staff at SEC explained that this approach would give companies quicker access to markets while still protecting investors, particularly as the agency received more than 900 registration documents during the closure. As part of the reprioritisation, the SEC will pause its customary, informal feedback to firms seeking to remove shareholder motions from meeting agendas for the 2025–26 proxy period. However, it will continue to assess requests from businesses incorporated in Delaware when state rules may restrict particular investor resolutions, including those related to environmental or social themes. The strategy mirrors the outlook of SEC Chair Paul Atkins, who has long questioned the value of many shareholder campaigns, especially those tied to ESG. Atkins has also said “that encouraging companies to go public is a key target for the SEC” under his leadership.

How leaders can build stakeholder trust in uncertain times – HBR

Companies operating in an environment marked by unusually high economic and policy volatility, are often pushed towards defensive behaviour such as cutting expenditure and conserving cash. The Harvard Business Review suggests that this instinctive approach, however understandable, often alienates firms from the very stakeholders whose support matters most: rising costs, job security fears and shifting supply chains has led to heightened unease across both consumers and employees. As such, the argument for leaders is clear: concentrate not only on your organisation’s own risks but also on how uncertainty affects stakeholders and then provide bubbles of clarity. Corporate leaders can do this in three ways. First, offer predictability through consistent actions and open communication. A good example is Kaspi, a Khazakhstan bank, which defused a bank run by responding with transparency, empathy and decisive customer-focused action. This helped propel it to be one of Kazakhstan’s leading fintech platform and see it successfully float on the LSE a few years later. Second, create moments of certainty by sharing reliable information, setting expectations and making time-bound commitments. Finally, act as a stabiliser by absorbing some financial strain rather than shifting it entirely onto stakeholders. Organisations that balance reassurance with realistic promises tend to emerge stronger when conditions improve. 

And finally … a world without IR? 

Bloomberg reports that major banks in the US are reshaping their equity research operations as the influence of privately held technology startups demand investors’ attention. Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Citigroup have each launched initiatives to study unlisted firms in an attempt to understand how fast growing outsiders may reshape their competitive landscape. Anne Malone, Head of US equity research at Citigroup, noted that clients either want access to these companies or need to judge the competitive threat they pose. UBS Group AG has made this a priority for 2026, having already reviewed around 1,400 unlisted firms and developed a sizeable network of founders who meet institutions directly. This expansion reflects the sheer scale of private markets, where many firms now rival public companies in size, with nearly 1,600 globally valued at $1 billion or more. Banks see this effort as one of the few growth areas in a research industry facing tighter budgets, heavier regulation and the rise of passive investing. Competition is strong, with consultancies and expert-network providers already active in private markets where there are no public disclosure and no standardised metrics. Without an inhouse IR team, analysts rely on proprietary datasets, interviews and fieldwork to draw together insights on private companies. This hands-on approach also helps old-school analysts combat the growing threat of AI as machines can’t easily replicate this style of analysis.