Shareholders could decide future of DuPont as investors lock horns
The CEO of DuPont, Ellen Kullman, has sent a letter to shareholders urging support in a board meeting next week that could decide the direction of the chemical and materials company.
Majority shareholder Trian Management, a hedge fund that holds nearly $2 billion in shares, is looking to displace the board and break up the company it deems overly complex.
Ms Kullman says shareholders can support DuPont on its path of “continued value creation, overseen by a world-class board … or allow Trian to displace the DuPont board’s accomplished leadership in order to pursue its break-up agenda”.
In a statement, she said: “Over the six years of my tenure as chair and CEO, we have … dramatically reshaped and retooled our company to ensure we can solve for the needs of the world’s growing population during a new age of resource scarcity—and can translate that directly into compelling and sustainable value for shareholders. This programme of change has taken direct aim at DuPont’s productivity and shifted the portfolio to centre on the highest-potential opportunities where DuPont’s science and engineering can deliver the greatest value.”
Trian has said that separating the agriculture, nutrition and health and biosciences businesses as well as the performance materials, safety and electronics business could eliminate overheads and result in a more efficient group.
