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HSBC

Activists might be too late to influence HSBC

By Peter Thal Larsen in London

Published: September 6 2007 22:15 | Last updated: September 6 2007 22:15

At the beginning of the year, HSBC seemed a prime target for shareholder activism. The banking group, which had grown into the world’s fourth-largest financial institution through a series of audacious acquisitions, seemed to have lost its way.

HSBC had just issued the first profits warning in its modern history, the result of a foolish bet on US sub-prime mortgages that had prompted investors to question the bank’s strategy and its ability to manage far-flung operations.

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