Trian's July 2017 letter to Procter & Gamble shareholders
- From
- Trian Fund Management
- Filed
- 31 Jul 2017
- Sector
- Consumer packaged goods
Read the original at sec.gov (opens in a new tab)
This is the view as filed on 31 Jul 2017, not a statement of what the author thinks today.
About this letter
Trian Fund Management wrote this letter to its fellow Procter & Gamble shareholders on 31 July 2017, during its proxy contest to elect Nelson Peltz, its co-founder, to P&G's board. Trian said it beneficially owned approximately $3.4 billion of P&G shares. The letter was filed with the SEC as definitive additional proxy material and carries the address of the campaign website, RevitalizePG.com.
Signed by the firm rather than an individual, it sets out the challenges Trian saw behind what it called disappointing results over the last decade, under three headings: weak total shareholder returns, market share losses across categories and geographies, and excessive cost and bureaucracy. It then argues that one additional director with long experience of consumer businesses would help P&G address them, and asks shareholders to vote for Peltz on the WHITE proxy card.
Why read it
It shows how an activist builds a board case from competitive evidence, using one acquired brand's lost share and a cost programme's flat results to argue for a single seat.
What to notice
- 1
Gillette carries the argument: P&G paid $57 billion for it in 2005, yet its share of the US men's shaving market fell from 62% to 49% over five years, and P&G had not launched a major shaving system in the twelve years since.
Continue the investment thesis
See the 3 remaining takeaways on what this investor is arguing and why, and every analysis across the Letters & Theses library.
Checking what you can open…
Companies discussed
- The Procter & Gamble Company (PG)
Topics
- board change
- governance
- competitive advantage
- cost discipline
- culture
- turnaround
L3VLUP does not host this document. It belongs to Trian Fund Management and is a public SEC filing; the notes above are L3VLUP’s reading of it.
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