Nelson Peltz has launched a proxy fight against DuPont Co. in a bid to get four directors on to the company’s board, pushing forward with his fight to breakup the industrial conglomerate.
Peltz’s Trian Fund Management, one of DuPont’s largest shareholders with 2.7% of its shares, pursued the move following 18 months of back-and-forth arguments and a failed bid by Peltz to initiate a corporate breakup. The fund nominated Peltz and three other members to the board.
DuPont’s (DD) $67.5 billion market capitalization makes it one of the largest-ever targets for an activist-investor led proxy fight, reported The Wall Street Journal.
“DuPont board has not held management accountable for repeatedly missing promised revenue and earnings targets,” Trian said in a statement.
DuPont replied that its board would review Trian’s director nominees and “make a recommendation that is in the best interest of all shareholders,” according to a statement.
Peltz set a letter to DuPont in September, urging the conglomerate to separate its agriculture, nutrition and health, and industrial biosciences from the more volatile business units. He said DuPont’s efforts to sell off some businesses was not enough to fix its “underperformance.”
DuPont pointed to its market-beating stock returns since the end of 2008 and cited “competitive advantages” for keeping its current slate of units under one group. The industrial giant believes the combination of its science platform, global scale, market access and brand provide unique and powerful influence in its market.
Trian’s three additional board nominees include: Robert Zatta, acting CEO of chemicals maker Rockwood Holdings; Arthur Winkleblack, board member of consumer goods producer Church & Dwight and RTI International Metals; and John Myers, CEO of GE Asset Management. New board members will be voted on at DuPont’s 2015 annual general meeting.
For more on this story, read Fortune’s Patricia Sellers on how Nelson Peltz simply can’t resist women.
—Reuters contributed to this report.
