Sysco Appoints Nelson Peltz And Josh Frank To Its Board

Hedge fund billionaire Nelson Peltz is making up for his big loss at DuPont with a quick win at food delivery company Sysco Corp.

Activist investor Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund is getting two Sysco board seats after becoming the food distributor’s largest shareholder.

The company said it had expanded its board to 12 members from 10 and Peltz and Frank would face election at its annual meeting.

For long, Trian has proved to be a victor in securing board seats. They suggested Sysco adopt “initiatives to improve operating margins”, and to use leverage, or borrowed money, to increase the amount of capital returned to shareholders, the hedge fund said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Trian has a fondness for food and beverage giants, having earlier invested in PepsiCo Inc., Mondelez global Inc., Kraft Foods Inc., H.J. Heinz Co. and Wendy’s Co., among others.

Sysco’s shares were little changed at $41 in extended trading on Thursday.

Peltz will join the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and Frank will join the Compensation and Finance Committees of Sysco’s Board.

On Thursday, Sysco’s nonexecutive chairman, Jackie Ward said “We have engaged in constructive dialogue with Nelson and Josh and look forward to benefiting from their insights and contributions”.

“Sysco is a leader in its business, and we believe it is undervalued and has tremendous long-term potential”, Peltz said in a statement.

The partnership began in the 1970s when May became chief financial officer of a regional food distributor controlled by Peltz, who is now 73.