Activist Nelson Peltz forced to shut London investment company

Nelson Peltz will close his £440mn London investment company and return assets to shareholders after clashing with a group of disgruntled investors in a role reversal for the usually pugnacious billionaire activist.

The New York-based founder of Trian Fund Management is known for his fierce campaigns, demanding changes from the management of companies such as consumer group Unilever and fund manager Janus Henderson.

However, in recent months, Trian has faced its own challenge from activist shareholders in the London-listed investment company it launched in 2018, Trian Investors 1.

A committee of investors, including Invesco and Janus Henderson and hedge funds Pelham Capital and Global Value Fund, pressed Trian Investors to return cash to shareholders, despite Peltz’s wish to keep it trading and make new investments.

Trian Investors, which holds £440mn in assets, has gained 71 per cent on a net asset value total return basis over the past three years. It has reaped big returns on investments in Unilever and heating and plumbing group Ferguson.

In a statement on Friday, Trian Investors’ board said it “acknowledges that a significant portion of the current shareholder base would like the opportunity to exit their shareholding”.

The dispute at Trian follows another shareholder spat involving a US billionaire and his London investors.

Dan Loeb, manager of hedge fund Third Point, was challenged by shareholders in his London-listed company last year in a 10-month governance dispute.

Loeb reached a truce with the activist group after the insurgent shareholders lost a crucial vote and Third Point agreed to appoint a new independent director.

At Trian Investors, the shareholder committee won a vote to eject the company’s chair in a tightly fought emergency general meeting last month, which saw some of the committee’s other proposed board changes defeated by small margins.

The vote kicked off a series of negotiations that resulted in Friday’s deal to wind up Trian Investors. The board said it would hand over at least 95 per cent of the shares and cash held by Trian Investors to its shareholders by June next year, after which the company will be closed and the remaining assets returned.

“The board is confident that its proposals represent a positive and sensible way forward that delivers an outcome which all shareholders can support,” said Mark Thompson, who took over as Trian Investors’ chair following the August votes.

More than 80 per cent of Trian Investors’ shareholders had indicated support for the plan, the board said, including Trian itself, which is a major shareholder. The shareholder committee also supports the plan.