#3 Nelson Peltz’s proxy fight of the decade: DuPont
In this episode we study Trian’s investment in DuPont. We dig into the primary sources and read the letters Nelson Peltz and his team sent the board, and the board’s responses. DuPont was outperforming the S&P, and was not the typical activist target. Yet Trian’s team discovered some real issues hidden under the conglomerate umbrella. Despite his tenacious campaign, he lost the proxy fight against DuPont’s management. However, despite the CEO’s denial, Nelson Peltz’s intuition was correct. The company implemented many of the changes he suggested. Ultimately, the investment took a few years to pay off, but Peltz was patient and made a nice return.