Trian Fund Management, L.P. has become a top ten shareholder of GE with the ownership of 98.5 million GE shares currently valued at approximately $2.5 billion. GE is now Trian’s largest investment, beating out DuPont Co. (See story above).
Trian Principals Nelson Peltz and Ed Garden claim they have a long-standing relationship with GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt. Since 2013, Trian has periodically engaged in informal dialogue with GE’s management team. Over the past several months, Trian has conducted investment due diligence, including on-site visits and meetings with leaders of various GE business units. Trian believes GE is executing a bold transformation that will generate attractive stockholder returns in the years ahead, release stated.
Trian has not asked GE for board representation but expects management to deliver on its commitments, a release stated. The company fell short of efforts to gain at seat at DuPont earlier this year.
Nelson Peltz, Chief Executive Officer and a Founding Partner of Trian, said, “We invested in GE because it is undervalued and underappreciated by the market despite what we believe is a transformation that will allow its world-class industrial businesses to drive attractive shareowner returns. Our recent discussions with Jeff and his team have solidified our belief that they are highly motivated to fully deliver on GE’s transformation and share much common ground with Trian on ways to improve long-term shareowner value.”
Like DuPont, GE has shed businesses over the year that include appliances and financial services. The company is about triple the size of DuPont.
