Lowe's names two directors after talks with activist investor

[January 19, 2018]  By Siddharth Cavale

(Reuters) - Lowe's Cos Inc has appointed two new board members following talks with activist hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co, which recently built a stake in the home improvement chain.

A view of the sign outside the Lowes store in Westminster, Colorado February 26, 2014. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

The company's shares were up 1.8 percent in premarket trading on Friday.

David Batchelder, co-founder of Relational Investors, and Lisa Wardell, CEO of Adtalem Global Education, were named to the board after "constructive discussions" with D.E. Shaw, Lowe's said.

The retailer also said it would nominate Brian Rogers, chairman of T. Rowe Price Group and its former chief investment officer, for board election at its annual shareholder meeting.

Batchelder was recommended by D.E. Shaw, while Wardell and Rogers were the company's candidates, a source close to the matter said.

The appointments of Batchelder, who will serve on the board's compensation committee, and Wardell, who will sit on the audit committee, are effective March 22.

Last week, CNBC reported that D.E. Shaw had built an activist stake in Lowe's, concerned about the home improvement retailer's performance, but was not planning to push for consolidation with another home retailer at this time.

(Additional reporting by Vibhuti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Sriraj Kalluvila)

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