Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management disclosed stakes in PepsiCo and Mondelez International, increasing speculation that he’ll push for a merger of the food makers.
Trian said in a filing yesterday that it owned 3.93 million PepsiCo shares valued at $269.1 million as of Dec. 31. The investor also purchased 19.4 million Mondelez shares valued at $494.2 million at the end of 2012. PepsiCo said after the filing was released that it had talked with Trian about driving growth and shareholder value.
“We don’t know what he is pushing for necessarily, but the belief is something around Pepsi and Mondelez getting together,” said Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analyst Ali Dibadj. “The theory is that Mondelez has good distribution in emerging markets. One of the opportunities for Pepsi snacks is to get into emerging markets.”
Another activist investor, Ralph Whitworth of Relational Investors, supports Peltz’s effort to combine the companies and has now bought a stake in Mondelez, according to a person familiar with the matter. Relational, which owned 7.6 million PepsiCo shares as of Dec. 31, has since sold down that stake at a gain, the person said.
PepsiCo shares rose 1.9 percent, closing at $82.77 yesterday. Mondelez, the snacks and coffee business spun off from Kraft Foods last year, climbed 5.3 percent, to $31.69.
The Daily Telegraph of London reported last month that Peltz could push for a merger of the companies. At that time, PepsiCo said it didn’t need large-scale acquisitions to up growth and shareholder value.
Whitworth expects other large PepsiCo investors will support a combination with Mondelez, especially if PepsiCo struggles to meet earnings forecasts, according to the source.