Performance Food Adds Activist Investor Amid Takeover Talks
Scott Ferguson of Sachem Joins Board Amid Discussions With US Foods
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Performance Food Group Co. added an activist investor to its board amid takeover discussion with US Foods Holding Corp.
Scott Ferguson, founder of Sachem Head Capital Management, is joining the Performance Food board, the company said in a statement Sept. 23. He will also join the audit and finance committee that oversees mergers and acquisitions and strategic alternative decisions, according to a regulatory filing.
“This outcome is the result of constructive engagement with Scott and his team and demonstrates our board’s openness to fresh perspectives,” Performance Food CEO George Holm said in the statement.
Performance Food ranks No. 4 and US Foods ranks No. 5 on theTransport Topics Top 100 list of the largest private carriersin North America. US Foods ranks No. 2 and Performance Food ranks No. 3 on thetop food service carriers list.
Sachem Head had nominated four director candidate to Performance Food’s board, the Richmond, Va..-based company said in an earlier statement. The fund had urged the food distributor to engage in merger talks with US Foods and boost profitability, Bloomberg News previously reported.
Performance Food and US Foods announced this month that they had entered into an information-sharing agreement to “evaluate regulatory considerations and the synergies related to a potential business combination.” The move came after Performance Food had declined earlier to entertain discussions.
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Ferguson was a board member at US Foods until last year, according to a statement. Sachem Head, which manages about $5 billion, is no longer a shareholder of US Foods, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The activist hedge fund has a stake of about 2.1% in Performance Food, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information wasn’t public yet. A representative for Sachem Head declined to comment on those details.
In the Sept. 23 statement, Ferguson said, “I look forward to serving on the board and helping to identify the best value-enhancing path forward for all shareholders.”
