Nelson Peltz is joining the board of US asset manager Janus Henderson, a victory for the activist investor who has been pushing for sweeping changes at the group.
Janus Henderson, which manages $419bn in assets, said on Tuesday that the 79 year old would join its board as an independent director alongside Ed Garden, who co-founded investment group Trian Partners with Peltz.
Installing the pair on the board increases the pressure on Janus Henderson to revive its fortunes and comes as Dick Weil, its longstanding chief executive, prepares to retire next month. The company is yet to announce a successor.
Trian unveiled stakes of roughly 10 per cent in both Janus Henderson and rival asset manager Invesco in 2020, and began discussing “strategic combinations” with both groups. Trian now has a 16.7 per cent stake in Janus Henderson, making it the asset manager’s largest shareholder.
Richard Gillingwater, chair of Janus Henderson, said that the company would benefit from the Trian duo’s “deep industry experience, fresh perspectives, and valuable insights as we search for a new CEO and evaluate growth opportunities and expansion into new markets and products”.
Formed from the 2017 merger of Janus Capital and Henderson, the group has struggled to make the combination work. Janus Henderson had $331bn in assets in early 2017, and a market capitalisation of around $6bn. Although its assets have grown over the past five years, the group’s market value has barely budged.
Peltz is a vocal advocate for more consolidation in the asset management industry, which faces rising costs and downward pressure on fees.
In a statement on Tuesday, Peltz and Garden said they saw “numerous operating and strategic opportunities ahead” for Janus Henderson.
One combination that has been mooted is a marriage between Invesco and State Street’s $3.9tn asset management business, State Street Global Advisors, a deal that would create a rival to challenge BlackRock and Vanguard in passive investing.
Peltz has already tried to prise away the ETF business — Trian owned a stake in State Street between early 2010 and 2013 but its push for a sale of SSGA eventually failed.
Peltz founded Trian in 2005 with Garden and Peter May. The group is known for its turnrounds at big consumer goods companies such as Snapple, Heinz and Procter & Gamble.
Last month, the Financial Times revealed that Peltz had built a stake in global consumer goods company Unilever, which is weighed down by lacklustre performance and suffering simmering shareholder discount following its abortive pursuit of GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer health business. Peltz has not yet revealed his intentions at the FTSE 100 company.
Both Peltz and Garden previously sat on the board of asset managers Invesco and Legg Mason, before the company was acquired by rival Franklin Templeton.
