Business

Peltz’s hunger game

Nelson Peltz may be getting hungry for more snack deals.

The Brooklyn-born junk-food tycoon has shelled out at least $2 billion to amass fresh stakes in PepsiCo and Mondelez, the owner of Oreo, Nabisco and Cadbury chocolates, according to a report yesterday.

Shares of the two companies surged on the news, with investors speculating that Peltz is poised to rattle the cages at both conglomerates — and possibly agitate for a merger worth $170 billion.

Pepsi shares popped 3.3 percent to close at $78.64. Mondelez — formerly known as Kraft Foods — rose 4.1 percent, to $29.73.

The report, in London’s Daily Telegraph, couldn’t be confirmed. Representatives for Peltz and the companies declined comment.

Peltz may be recruiting other investors to buy up still more shares, the Telegraph reported.

Traders speculated yesterday that Peltz may be looking to prod Pepsi — whose fast-growing snacks business includes Doritos, Lay’s and Quaker Oats — to buy Mondelez.

Another possible scenario is that Peltz pushes Pepsi to split its own businesses — a move that CEO Indra Nooyi has reportedly resisted despite pressure from shareholders.

Still, it isn’t entirely clear whether Peltz’s investments in both companies are necessarily related to each other. Mondelez, headed by hard-charging CEO Irene Rosenfeld, is poised for growth, analysts say.

Some skeptics noted that Peltz’s New York-based investment firm, Trian Partners, sold all of a previous 8.1-million-share stake in Mondelez in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to securities filings.