Campbell Soup (CPB) Makes Peace with Third Point
The American canned soup maker, Campbell Soup, announced Monday it has made peace with activist fund Third Point, in a standstill agreement.
Under the terms of the truce, Campbell would add two of Third Point's nominees to its board: former Blue Buffalo CEO Kurt Schmidt and Comscore President Sarah Hofstetter, while Third Point will support the rest of Campbell's nominees. Additionally, the size of company's board will expand to 14 members along with the appointment of a third director by the meeting of the Board in May 2019.
Established in the mid 1800’s, Campbell soup has almost always been a family business. But the recent string of poor financial performance -- owing to some miscalculated steps amidst dropping sale and share prices -- created increased pressure on the soup giant's heirs to sell their stakes in the company.
Although the shares of the company fell by ~2% on Monday, the settlement symbolizes a muted victory for Dan Loeb's Third Point, which roughly holds 7% stake in Campbell.
In the last 20 years, Campbell has just delivered a ~19% return, whereas the S&P 500 during the same time period has almost tripled.
