The emergence of activist investors usually brings with it boardroom scraps, an acrimonious tit-for-tat and a battle for shareholders’ hearts and minds.
Two activist investors now control a combined 10% of Whitbread’s shares, making a splitting up of the 250-year-old company into its two constituent parts seem more a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.
Elliott Advisors disclosed a more than £400m stake in the Costa Coffee and Premier Inn owner at the weekend, a decision forced upon it by financial regulations which require investors to publicly announce an interest above 5%.
