Less than a week after disclosing a stake, Nelson Peltz‘s Trian Partners issued an amended 13D regarding SYSCO Corporation (NYSE:SYY), in which it reiterated its stake and announced that the company appointed Nelson Peltz and Josh Frank, a partner at Trian, to its board of directors. Following the appointments, Sysco’s board of directors was expanded to 12 members. Trian Partners holds a 7.08% position in the food distribution company, which contains 42.06 million shares.
In addition, Mr. Peltz will serve on the company’s Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, while Mr. Frank will join the Compensation and the Finance Commitees of SYSCO Corporation (NYSE:SYY)’s Board. Trian has also entered into customary confidentiality arrangements regarding Sysco’s information.
The news are not surprising, because Mr. Peltz expressed his interest in requesting board representation on Sysco’s board of directors in Trian’s first filing last week. Trian has previously engaged in discussions with the company’s President and CEO William J. Delaney and Non-Executive Chairman of the Board Jackie M. Ward.
Mr. Peltz has an extensive track record of serving on the boards of different companies. Last year, the investor was appointed to the boards of Bank of New York Mellon Corp (NYSE:BK) and Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ). Previously, Nelson Peltz served on the boards of The Madison Square Garden Co (NYSE:MSG) and HJ Heinz. In addition, in January Trian appointed its representative on the board of PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP), after two years of confrontations regarding the spin-off of the company’s snack business. Trian also conducted an aggressive proxy contest against DuPont and tried to appoint Mr. Peltz and three other directors to the board, but failed, as shareholders re-elected all 12 current members of the board.
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