Activist Investing Today: Glass Lewis’ Grothe Talks Peltz, Campbell and Director Fights

Activist investors like Nelson Peltz who have board and operational experience are more likely to be viewed positively by influential proxy adviser Glass Lewis than hedge fund managers that have never held director positions.That’s the view of Mark Grothe, senior analyst in M&A and contested situations at Glass Lewis. Grothe, who has worked on the some of the most contentious proxy fights in recent years, spoke to The Deal’s Activist Investing Today podcast and offered his thoughts on whether the Glass Lewis is more or less likely to recommend that investors support an activist-backed industry expert or one of their hedge fund analyst candidates for a directorship. Grothe also offered his thoughts on change-of-control slates, and why he thinks it is very important for both companies and activists to make director candidates available for conversations.“If you think of someone like Nelson Peltz at Trian, he has a lot of board experience with consumer product goods companies. He has a certain reputation, and calls himself a ‘constructivist,’” Grothe said. “That’s not to say that if Nelson Peltz nominates himself in a board fight he is guaranteed to get a seat but at least you have some board experience. You really want to see industry experience as well.”