Bill Ackman, the activist hedge fund manager, has put a $5.5 billion bet on Mondelez (7.5 per cent stake), the maker of Oreo, Cadbury’s chocolate and Trident gum, in an attempt to force the food group to slash costs or put itself for sale.
The story was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at office@jewishbusinessnews.com.
Thank you.
This is the second time in three years that US-based Mondelez, which has a market capitalisation of $73bn, has had to argeu with an investor activist, following turbulence by Nelson Peltz who tried to force the company to merge with PepsiCo’s snacks arm.
Mr Ackman and his fund, Pershing Square, holds 3 per cent of Mondelez shares directly, with the remaining interest through futures contracts and options.
Mondelez respond: “We welcome Pershing Square as investors in our company. We’ll continue to focus on executing our strategy and on delivering value for all our shareholders”.
Mr Ackman knows both Irene Rosenfeld, Mondelez chief executive, and 3G Capital well, putting him in a unique position to play them off against each other, claim the ficancial Times.
Pershing Square was an investor in Cadbury when Kraft launched a hostile bid for the chocolate maker in 2009 and Ms Rosenfeld, then chief executive of Kraft, stoked controversy in the UK by backing away from an apparent promise not to close Cadbury factories, according to ficancial Times.
The hedge fund is also an investor with 3G in Burger King, another food company where the Brazilian firm has installed management to impose cost cutting and zero-based budgeting.
Mr Peltz dropped his demand for the Pepsi merger last year to focus on pushing for cost cuts and Mondelez gave him a seat on its board.
Mondelez
Mothers who pack lunch for their kids may wonder
whether cheese and ketchup really go together, but
Heinz and Kraft just became a great combination, as
3G’s Jorge Paulo Lemann has had his way with More…
Nelson Peltz is buying in the Mondelez section of
his portfolio supermarket aisle, and has been stocking
up on shares, according to Dakota Financial News.
Peltz purchased 270, 871 shares in the openmarket More…
Mondelez CEO Irene Rosenfeld, on her visit to India,
says the “blank check” given to her units in the country
is “bearing fruit.” India is one of the fastest growing
Asian countries, and More…
– Giant international snack food and confectionery company
Mondelēz International, which is led by Irene Rosenfeld
as Chairman and CEO, announced yesterday that prominen
t hedge fund manager, and activist investor, More…
A year and a half ago, in August 2012 private equity firm
Brynwood Partners, based in Greenwich Connecticut, announced that
one of its funds had entered into an agreement with,
what was at the More…
– Howard Schultz / Getty – The Starbucks Coffee Company,
led byChairman Howard Schultz, has just lost an important
arbitration ruling that will cost it US$2.76 billion in cold hard
cash- a huge sum which More…
Nelson Peltz, known as being among the most aggressive
activist investors, especially in the fast food business, has
long said his sights on the underachieving More…
