There must have been bemusement when Dan Loeb’s letter turned up in Vevey, home of Nestlé. In place of the hedge fund polemicist who once told a chief executive to “retreat to your waterfront mansion in the Hamptons where you can play tennis and hobnob with your fellow socialites”, the founder of Third Point came over as surprisingly supportive, even amiable.
Mr Loeb included some warning shots about Nestlé being “stuck in its old ways” but he pledged to be “an engaged, long-term shareholder” assisting Mark Schneider, its new chief executive, to reshape the 151-year-old pillar of the Swiss economy. Third Point would “play a constructive role to encourage management to pursue change with a greater sense of urgency”.
As US hedge funds venture to Europe to take advantage of a resurgent economy and shake up vulnerable companies, constructivism is the new activism. Instead of standing outside the gates, bellowing threats at incumbent executives, they are talking politely to insiders. When even Mr Loeb uses the lingo of conciliation and compromise, something has shifted.