Nelson Peltz, the founding partner and CEO of Trian Fund Management said he will not give up Dupont despite losing his proxy fight to obtain board seats in the company.
During his appearance at CNBC’s Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha Conference, Peltz said his defeat in the Dupont proxy fight was a significant loss to shareholders.
Peltz noted that the shares of Dupont were trading $80 on March 12. The current stock price of the chemical giant is $59. According him, “You can add $2 to that for Chemours, but it’s been a loss for all shareholders. We had 46% of the vote. The activist index funds voted against us.”
Peltz will wait and see what Dupont will do forward
The activist investor emphasized that his firm was not giving up on Dupont despite the defeat. He said, “We haven’t sold our shares. That’s not our style. We’re going to wait and see what the management and board will do from here forward.”
According toPeltz, during the last visit of Dupont CEO Ellen Kullman at his office, he told her that he intends to avoid another proxy fight. He also emphasized that the “least favorite thing” is to see that stock price of Dupont at its current level.
Peltz considers buying more shares of Dupont
When asked by Jim Cramer if he would consider buying more shares of Dupont at its current price, Peltz replied, “I would consider it, absolutely.
Peltz also told Cramer that his firm is doing some work on Chemours, but he is uncertain whether to buy Chemours.
“That stock when issued a couple of weeks ago, was 21 bucks. Yesterday, I think it was 12. They overleveraged the company. I mean we’re accused of smash and grab. We’re accused of overleveraging companies. Our white paper said spinoff Chemours, make it investment grade. They spun off Chemours. They made it junk,” explained Peltz.
During the interview, Peltz indicated that he has two new positions, which account 1/3 of Trian Fund’s portfolio. He mentioned Pentair but declined to reveal his other investment.
Meanwhile, the activist investor believed that there is a consumer opportunity in China. He thinks companies like Modelez are taking advantage of it. He expressed concern on other areas in China such as capital items.
