SAN FRANCISCO, CA September 17, 2018--The Blueshirt Group, the leading tech-focused IPO advisory and investor relations firm, today announced the launch of a corporate governance advisory and activism defense practice led by Waheed Hassan, CFA, who has joined the firm as Managing Director. The new practice extends Blueshirt’s ability to offer publicly traded clients a comprehensive approach to corporate governance issues as well as deep knowledge on proactively managing activist risk.

Hassan brings more than a decade of experience in corporate governance, shareholder engagement, M&A, and activism defense. Prior to joining Blueshirt, Hassan was at one of the largest governance consulting and proxy solicitation firms in the industry, where he successfully assisted in building and was co-head of the Corporate Governance and Activism Defense Practice. Prior to that, he managed the M&A/Proxy Contest research team at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), where he led numerous high-profile engagements such as the Xerox acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), and proxy contests at Target and Office Depot. Overall, Hassan has been involved in more than 200 contested situations and is a trusted advisor to C-suite executives and Boards of Directors on corporate governance and activism defense.

Previously, Hassan worked as a senior research analyst with Indosuez W.I. Carr Securities, UBS Warburg, and Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari (an affiliate of Merrill Lynch). 

“Activism and corporate governance issues are increasing dramatically.  The addition of Waheed to our team positions Blueshirt to expertly help our clients identify vulnerabilities and proactively prepare for any potential activist engagement,” said Blueshirt Managing Partner Lisa Laukkanen. “Additionally, Waheed brings extensive corporate governance expertise to help company boards and management teams manage complex and contested shareholder matters and to build productive relationships with both passive and active investors.  We bring a long-term, relationship focus to clients, and these new capabilities will directly increase the value we deliver.”

During the first half of 2018, 367 public companies were targeted in the U.S.– up 10% from 1H2017, according to Activist Insight Half Year Review 2018.  The same data shows that no company is immune, regardless of size or share structure.  Approximately 55% of activist targets were companies with market capitalizations under $2 billion and approximately 73% had market capitalization below $10 billion.

“Blueshirt is a premier investor relations brand, and I look forward to leading the firm’s expansion into corporate governance and activism preparedness,” said Hassan.  “By combining intelligence gathered from interaction with active fund managers with a thorough assessment of a company’s performance through an activist ‘lens’, we are uniquely positioned to help our clients manage activist risk and ensure a more productive shareholder engagement strategy.”

Over the last few years, Blueshirt has represented approximately one-third of technology-related IPOs for U.S. companies, including four of the top eight best-performing tech IPOs last year.  Since 2010, The Blueshirt Group has worked with more than 80 IPOs. The firm is presently engaged to represent a number of upcoming IPOs, several of which have already filed publicly with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In addition to its technology sector leadership, Blueshirt provides IPO advisory, investor relations, capital markets expertise and financial media relations services to companies in the energy, agriculture, healthcare and industrial sectors.  The firm has also recently been retained for clients in the restaurant and urban mobility industries.

About The Blueshirt Group

Founded in 1999, The Blueshirt Group offers IPO advisory, investor relations, financial media relations and crisis communications to leading growth companies globally. Blueshirt is based in San Francisco, with offices in New York, Beijing and Stockholm. Reach us at www.blueshirtgroup.com and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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Media Contact:
Jeff Fox
(415) 828-8298
jeff@blueshirtgroup.com