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Elliott Advisors, the feared activist investor, is launching a bold attempt to soften its hostile reputation in British boardrooms by recruiting one of Britain’s best-known boardroom grandees.
Sky News can reveal that Sir Mike Rake, the former chairman of London-listed companies including BT Group and easyJet, has agreed to join the investment firm’s European arm as a senior advisor.
The appointment, which is said to have been finalised in the last few days, will see Sir Mike engaging with the boards of companies in which Elliott builds stakes on the firm’s behalf.
A former president of the CBI and staunch Remainer during the Brexit referendum campaign, Sir Mike is one of Britain’s most prominent businesspeople.
He has also served as chairman of KPMG’s UK operations, and wrote an influential report about private equity ownership of UK companies.
Since stepping down as chairman of BT in 2017, he has taken on a number of roles at private companies, including at the Indian-headquartered ride-hailing app Ola.
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In 2021, he stepped down from the board of Huawei UK, the Chinese telecoms equipment manufacturer, amid controversy over its role in building Britain’s 5G networks.
His appointment at Elliott represents an attempt by the activist investor to burnish its image in UK boardrooms, according to a person close to the firm.
In recent years, it has built stakes in FTSE-350 companies including BHP, the mining giant, drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline, Hammerson, the shopping centre-owner, and Whitbread, the owner of Premier Inn hotels.
At most of them, it has either pushed publicly or behind the scenes for strategic or management changes, and has earned a reputation as one of the most aggressive activist funds in the world.
Elliott Management, the US-based parent, was founded in the 1970s by Paul Singer…
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