Investor says his vote count shows he won seat at P&G
NEWYORK — Activist investor Nelson Peltz said Wednesday that an independent vote count shows he actually won election to Procter & Gamble’s board of directors in contrast to what the company announced last month.
Procter& Gamble’s stock rose in extended trading after Peltz’s Trian Fund Management issueda statement on the new count.
Trian urged Procter & Gamble to accept the new count and “not waste further time and shareholder money contesting the outcome.”
“Shareholders have voted, and they have indicated that they want Nelson Peltz to join the board,” Trian said in its statement.
Trian owns about $3.5 billion in P&G shares and has urged the consumer products giant to streamline its corporate structure and cut costs.
Cincinnati- based Procter & Gamble Co. said the latest count shows Peltz with a slim lead, but the results are still preliminary and could be challenged.
P&G said that Peltz currently holds a 42,780-vote lead in the board race, which puts him ahead by 0.0016 percent of the vote. His narrow lead is over current director Ernesto Zedillo, a former president of Mexico.
At the shareholder meeting last month, Procter & Gamble CEO David Taylor said he believed the vote rejecting Peltz was a sign that shareholders supported the company’s direction.
Trian, which invested in P&G stock less than a year ago, says the company has underperformed its peers for adecade.