Cevian Capital: White Knight or Grim Reaper for ThyssenKrupp?

Activist investor Cevian Capital announced it has increased its stake in ThyssenKrupp AG from 5.2 percent to 6.1 percent.  You may be familiar with the definition of an activist as “a vigorous advocate of a cause” but an activist investor is not quite the same.

Investopedia defines an activist investor as: An individual or group that purchases large numbers of a public company’s shares and/or tries to obtain seats on the company’s board with the goal of effecting a major change in the company. Companies with excessive costs, poor management, or other problems are generally targets for activist investors—a pretty fair description of ThyssenKrupp AG and a reason to speculate on whether Cevian’s investment may lead to a break-up of the German steelmaker.