Trian seeks seat for Peltz on P&G board

[July 17, 2017]  (Reuters) - Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management LP said on Monday it was seeking a seat for its billionaire chief executive at Procter & Gamble Co's board as it looks to push the company to take more drastic steps to revive sales.

The fund, which owns about $3.3 billion of P&G's stock, urged shareholders to vote for Peltz at the company's shareholder meeting, citing his track record of working with managements to turn around consumer companies.

In a bid to boost profits even as sales remain stagnant, P&G has sold unprofitable brands, including 41 beauty brands to Coty Inc <COTY.N>, and focused on core brands such as Tide, Pampers and Gillette.

However, those efforts have failed to boost the company's stock much beyond the level where it traded at the beginning of this year. The company had a market value of $222.77 billion, as of Friday's close.

Trian said in the filing it was launching the proxy fight because of P&G's continuing underperformance and the lack of tangible evidence that the company had embraced initiatives discussed at various meetings between the parties. (http://bit.ly/2t7h62c)

"We believe that many of (P&G's) challenges relate to the company's organizational structure and culture, which can be highly resistant to change," the fund said.

Nelson Peltz speaks at the WSJD Live conference in Laguna Beach, California October 25, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Trian had sought a seat for Peltz on P&G's board earlier this year, but was declined by the company.

P&G said in an email on Monday that its board was confident that the changes being made by the company were producing results and expressed complete support for its strategy, plans, and management.

Trian said it was not seeking a break-up of P&G or the ouster of the company's chief executive, adding that in case Peltz was elected he would seek re-election of the director he replaced.

Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Monday that Trian was set to launch a proxy fight.

The company's annual meeting is usually held in October.

(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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