Activist investor Nelson Peltz to leave Mondelēz Board

13-Feb-2018 - Last updated on 14-Feb-2018 at 14:24 GMT

Milka maker names new Board members as Peltz concentrates on Procter & Gamble. ©GettyImages-zoliky

Trian Fund Management CEO Nelson Peltz, who pushed for a merger between Mondelēz and PepsiCo five years ago, will stand down from Mondelez’s Board of Directors as the Cadbury maker names two new members.

Peltz took the decision to devote more time to other Board commitments. He has been a Mondelez director since 2014.

The businessman – with a net worth of $1.66bn according to Forbes – is also a director of Sysco Corporation and The Madison Square Garden Company, and will become a director of The Procter & Gamble Company from March 1, 2018.

Mondelēz has appointed Debra Crew, former president and CEO of Reynolds American, and Peter May, president and a founding Partner of Trian, to its Board, effective March 1, 2018.

Trian is the fourth largest shareholder of Mondelēz with 4% of institutional holdings, according NASDAQ.

The asset management firm pushed PepsiCo to acquire Mondelēz in 2013 – but a deal never materialized.

Mondelēz performance and outlook

Mondelēz reported a revenue decline of 0.1% to $25.9bn in 2017, representing 0.9% organic growth. It fell slightly short of its target of at least 1% organic net revenue growth.

Former McCain Foods president Dirk Van de Put succeeded Irene Rosenfeld as Mondelēz’s CEO in November 2017.

Mondelēz expects 2018 net organic revenues to increase 1% to 2% in 2018.