Trian Loses Proxy Fight Against DuPont On “Dark Day”

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Trian Fund Management, the activist hedge fund headed by Nelson Peltz lost its proxy fight against E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co, the multinational chemical company. Dupont shareholders elected all of its 12 nominees based on the proxies submitted to the independent inspector of election for the 2015 annual meeting.

Based on the preliminary results, Dupont shareholders elected Ellen Kullman, Alexander Cutler, Lamberto Andreotti, Edward Breen, Robert Brown, Eleuthère du Pont, James Gallogly, Marillyn Hewson, Lois Juliber, Ulf “Mark” Schneider, Lee Thomas, and Patrick Ward to the company’s board.

Trian Loses Proxy Fight Against DuPont On "Dark Day"

In a statement, DuPont Chairman and CEO Ellen Kullman said, “We are pleased with the outcome of the vote and especially appreciate the strong expressions of support from so many of our shareholders for our strategic transformation and the continued execution of our plan.Our Board and management value the open dialogue and input we have received from our shareholders, and we look forward to continuing to execute our strategic plan to make DuPont a higher growth, higher value company.”

Trian Fund said its involvement with Dupont created substantial value

On the other hand, Trian Fund accepted its defeat from the proxy fight and expressed its appreciation for the support it received from its fellow shareholders. Trian Fund is one of the largest shareholders of DuPont . The activist hedge fund owns 24.6 million shares of the chemical giant.

Trian Fund emphasized that its involvement with DuPont created substantial value for al shareholder over the past two years. The activist hedge fund noted that the board of directors of DuPont approved a $5 billion stock buyback, started a long-overdue cost-cutting initiative, and improved its executive compensation program. The chemical giant also announced the separation of Chemours with a $4 billion capital returns to shareholders. DuPont is expecting to complete the separation of Chemours in less than two months.

“We are proud of the quality of our analysis and the role we have played as a positive change agent at DuPont. We don’t believe these actions would have happened without our involvement,” said Trian Fund.

Dupont shareholders will be less tolerant

Trian Fund also stated that the board and management of DuPont risked their reputation on executing the current strategy of the company. The activist hedge fund said its efforts created appropriate pressure to prove that the strategy can deliver high quality and consistent earnings growth.

Moving forward and regardless of the results of the election, Trian Fund believes that the shareholders of the chemical giant will be “less tolerant of continued missed earnings guidance, extraordinary charges value-destructive acquisitions and divestitures, and executive compensation that are not aligned with performance and operating metrics. Trian Fund said it would continue its close monitoring on DuPont’s performance.

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