Dylan Haggart, a former Partner at activist investment firm ValueAct Capital Management, is gearing up to launch his own investment firm in what will be one the highest profile activist launches in years, according to a report by Reuters.

The report cites unnamed people familiar with the matter as confirming that Haggart, who was responsible for ValueAct's investments in private equity firm KKR, investment bank Morgan Stanley, and media company The New York Times, is to launch Fivespan Partners, after ending his 10-year spell at San Francisco based ValueAct last year.

According to Reuters's sources, the new firm will focus on investment in mid-sized companies where it sees the opportunity grow and work with management teams and boards to help improve operations and capital structures to make them more valuable. It will look to build a portfolio of six to 10 investments at any one time.

Sarah Coyne, who worked with Haggart as a partner at ValueAct and also left in 2023, will be a managing partner at Fivespan, according to the sources, while two other former ValueAct employees, Margarita Krivitski and Andrew Fraga, and Chris Kelly, who previously worked at Voyager Global Management, will also the join the investment team.

The role of Chef Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer will be filled by Carly Pollock who has previously spent time art Sellaronda Global, Voyager Global, and Firefly Value Partner.