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Peltz escalates campaign to break up DuPont with board nominees

January 08, 2015 at 10:04 pm EST

(Reuters) - Activist investor Nelson Peltz, one of DuPont's largest shareholders, stepped up his fight to break up the industrial conglomerate, as his Trian Fund nominated himself and three other members to the board.

Trian Fund Management L.P., which Peltz heads, said on Thursday that investment funds it manages own 24.3 million DuPont shares worth about $1.8 billion. That is a 2.68 percent stake.

"DuPont board has not held management accountable for repeatedly missing promised revenue and earnings targets," Trian said in a statement.

DuPont responded in a statement that its board would review Trian's director nominees and "make a recommendation that is in the best interest of all shareholders."

In defense, DuPont pointed to its market-beating stock returns under its leadership team since the end of 2008 and said its highly qualified directors are revamping the company. It has also noted ongoing cost cuts.

In September, Trian sent a letter to DuPont urging a breakup, saying efforts already under way to shed some of the company's businesses were not enough to fix its "underperformance."

Peltz has pushed DuPont to separate its agriculture, nutrition and health, and industrial biosciences units from those with strong cash flows but are more volatile.

DuPont, however, cites "competitive advantages" in keeping its businesses together, with the combined power of its science platform, global scale, market access and brand.

"Despite numerous efforts to engage constructively, including multiple calls and meetings with our CEO, CFO and lead independent director, Trian has chosen this path with the potential to disrupt our company at a key stage of execution against our plan," DuPont said on Thursday.

Trian's nominees include John Myers, Arthur Winkleblack and Robert Zatta for election to the DuPont board at the 2015 annual general meeting.

Zatta has been acting CEO of specialty chemicals maker Rockwood Holdings Inc since July 2014 and Winkleblack is on the board of consumer goods maker Church & Dwight Co Inc and RTI International Metals Inc. Myers is CEO of GE Asset Management, a General Electric Co subsidiary.

Trian, founded by Peltz, Peter May and Garden in 2005, aggressively presses for change at companies it invests in. Last year, Peltz renewed his crusade to convince PepsiCo Inc to spin off its slow-growing beverage business from its flourishing snacks division.

DuPont's shares have risen about 13 percent since Trian sent the letter in September, to $74.53 at Thursday's close.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar Avik Das and Supriya Kurane in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Wills and Richard Chang)

Stocks mentioned in the article

	Add to a list Add to a list 0 selected To use this feature you must be a member Log in Sign up	Price	Change	5d. change	Capi.
	E I DU PONT DE NEMOURS AND CO	- USD	-.--%	+1.87%	0
	GE AEROSPACE	161.3 USD	+1.30%	+5.44%	177B

Nelson Peltz

Nelson Peltz (born June 24, 1942) is an American businessman and a founding partner, together with Peter W. May and Edward P. Garden, of Trian Fund Management. L.P., an alternative investment management fund, based in New York.

Early life and education
Peltz was born in 1942 to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, He was enrolled at the undergraduate program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he joined the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta, but never completed his degree. Triangle was sold to Pechiney in 1988.

In 1997, through an investment vehicle they controlled, Triarc Cos, Peltz and May acquired Snapple, from Quaker Oats. Snapple, together with other beverage brands was sold to Cadbury Schweppes in 2000. The Snapple turnaround was featured as a Harvard Business School case study.

In 2006 Trian was involved in a proxy contest with Heinz to get five independent directors on the board of Heinz. In the end Trian succeeded in getting two members on the board, including Peltz.

In 2007, Trian bought a 3% share of Cadbury-Schweppes which may have influenced the spin-off of Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages from the Cadbury Schweppes confectionery group. In 2007, Trian also bought $1.8 billion in shares of Kraft Foods, roughly a 3% of the total equity of the food maker.Cite news| url = |title= Peltz Has His Slic

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Linked companies
Trian Partners General Partner LLC Trian Partners General Partner LLC Miscellaneous Commercial ServicesCommercial Services Trian Partners General Partner LLC provides business services related to hedge funding. The company is the general partner of Trian Onshore, Trian Offshore, and Trian Offshore (Non-ERISA). It is located in New York, NY.	Chief Executive Officer
Trian Fund Management LP Trian Fund Management LP Investment ManagersFinance Trian Fund Management LP (Trian) is an independent, SEC-registered investment advisor and hedge fund manager headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded by Nelson Peltz, Edward Garden and Peter May in 2005 and do-business-as Trian Partners. Trian provides discretionary investment advisory services to a variety of domestic and offshore private investment partnerships and other investment vehicles.	Chief Executive Officer

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