Shareholder campaigns double in three years The number of activist campaigns waged against companies by their shareholders has more than doubled in three years. According to new data, the past 12 months have seen more than 415 instances of corporate activism across the world, up from 172 in 2010. Where activists had previously focused on banks and financial services groups - criticising compensation and pushing for changes in corporate culture - now their targets are larger and far more diversified. The research, conducted by Activist Insight and commissioned by law firm Linklaters, points to the growing engagement of institutional investors with companies in the wake of the financial crisis and the resurgence of more aggressive hedge-fund style corporate agitation. Activist positions have also outperformed broader market investments, the data appears to show. According to Linklaters, activist positions have returned around 53 per cent on capital annually even when unsuccessful. The S&P 500 is up 24 per cent so far this year. The most common new activist demands are those calling on companies to return excess cash to shareholders, either through dividends, share buybacks or other special measures. Carl Icahn, one of the US's most prominent activists, has led calls for Apple to make capital redistributions this year. He wrote an open letter to Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, last month, calling for a $150bn buyback programme. The past few months have seen a slew of such high-profile confrontations. Dan Loeb, the hedge fund manager, has taken on household corporate names such as Sony and Sotheby's, respectively calling for a break-up and the removal of current management . TCI, the London-based hedge fund run by Chris Hohn, has meanwhile focused recent efforts on taking stakes in companies largely or partially owned by governments. The hedge fund, which has earned notoriety among boardroom executives for its often belligerent style, has this year called for defence conglomerate EADS to sell one of its most politically-sensitive assets, a large stake in Dassault Aviation. TCI then raised eyebrows again in October after becoming the largest private shareholder in the UK's newly privatised Royal Mail. So far, Europe has proved a less fecund environment, but many believe that is now changing. Activist positions have increased by 62 per cent since 2010, according to Linklaters. Bill Ackman, the US hedge fund manager, said in a speech last month at Oxford University that he expected Europe to be the next big source of activist activity. Shareholder activism was about 10 years behind that in the US, Mr Ackman said, but that would change as pension funds and other institutional investors increased demands for better returns.