By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
(Reuters) -Hedge fund Starboard Worth has taken a stake in Kenvue (NYSE:), the buyer merchandise firm that makes Band-Assist, Listerine, and Tylenol, and which went public final yr, two folks acquainted with the matter mentioned on Sunday.
Reuters was not capable of instantly be taught the dimensions of the stake.
Kenvue, beforehand part of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:), has seen its inventory worth fall 18% because the firm was listed publicly in Could, 2023. It closed buying and selling at $21.72 per share on Friday, giving the corporate a market worth of $41 billion.
Starboard might want the corporate to evaluation the way it positions its manufacturers and the way they’re priced to be able to enhance its efficiency, one of many sources mentioned.
The sources weren’t authorised to debate the hedge fund’s positions publicly and declined to be recognized. A Kenvue consultant was not instantly obtainable for remark.
The information, first reported by the Wall Road Journal, comes two days earlier than the 13D Monitor Lively-Passive Investor Summit the place Starboard chief funding officer, Jeffrey Smith, is scheduled to current funding concepts.
On the convention, Starboard is anticipated to debate its new roughly $1 billion funding in pharmaceutical firm Pfizer (NYSE:). The hedge fund has signaled that it needs the pharmaceutical big to enhance its monetary efficiency.
Smith met final week with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and the corporate’s lead unbiased director. Pfizer delivered the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine however its inventory worth has misplaced practically half of its worth since 2021 when demand for the vaccine was excessive.
