Nelson Peltz is an American businessman and a founding partner, together with Peter W.
May and Edward P. Garden, of Trian Fund Management. L.P., an alternative investment management
fund, based in New York. He is non-executive chairman of the Board of The Wendy's Company
and a director of Legg Mason, Inc., Mondelēz International and Ingersoll Rand plc. He was
formerly a director of H.J. Heinz Company. He was also formerly the Chief Executive Officer
of Triangle Industries, a Fortune 100 industrial company.
Early life and education Peltz was born in 1942 in Brooklyn, New York,
and is Jewish, the son of Claire and Maurice Herbert Peltz. Peltz was enrolled at the undergraduate
program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he joined the Fraternity
of Phi Gamma Delta, but never completed his degree.
In 1963, he dropped out of school with the intention of becoming a ski instructor in
Oregon, but ended up driving a delivery truck for A. Peltz & Sons, the then $2.5 million
in sales, wholesale food distribution business founded by his grandfather Adolph, which delivered
fresh produce and frozen food to restaurants in New York. His father gave him free rein
with the company, and over the next 15 years he and his older brother Harlan grew the business,
later to be called Flagstaff Corporation, into a publicly held company with $150 million
in sales. Flagstaff was sold in 1978, having gone bankrupt.
Business career In the 1980s, Peltz and his business partner,
Peter May, who had joined Flagstaff as chief financial officer after having been its accountant,
went looking for new acquisitions. They found vending-machine and wire company Triangle
Industries, building it into a Fortune 100 industrial company. Triangle was sold to Pechiney
in 1988. In 1997, through an investment vehicle they
controlled, Triarc Cos, Peltz and May acquired Snapple, from Quaker Oats. Snapple, together
with other beverage brands was sold to Cadbury Schweppes in 2000. The Snapple turnaround
was featured as a Harvard Business School case study.
In 2005, Peltz, May, and Ed Garden, founded Trian Fund Management, L.P. As an activist
investing firm, Trian has facilitated change at such companies as Heinz, Cadbury, Kraft
Foods , Ingersoll Rand, Wendy’s, DuPont, Mondelēz, PepsiCo, State Street Corporation
and Family Dollar. In 2006 Trian was involved in a proxy contest
with Heinz to get five independent directors on the board of Heinz. In the end Trian succeeded
in getting two members on the board, including Peltz.
In 2007, Trian bought a 3% share of Cadbury-Schweppes which may have influenced the spin-off of
Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages from the Cadbury Schweppes confectionery group.
In 2007, Trian also bought $1.8 billion in shares of Kraft Foods, roughly a 3% of the
total equity of the food maker. On April 24, 2008, it was announced that Triarc
Cos. would merge with burger chain Wendy's. The merger was completed on September 29,
2008. The new company was named Wendy's Arby's Group and traded on the New York Stock Exchange
under the symbol WEN. On July 25, 2011, Wendy's Arby's sold Arby's to Roark Capital Group
and changed its name to The Wendy's Company. According to CNBC, on February 15, 2011, Trian
offered to buy Family Dollar for $55–60 per share.
In mid-February 2011, Trian, announced it had accumulated an 8% stake in the Family
Dollar company and indicated a willingness to participate in a take private LBO for the
company with a total value of about $7 to $8 billion. This overture was rejected by
the company management and board of directors. In September 2011, Ed Garden, Trian’s Chief
Investment Officer, joined the Family Dollar board.
Peltz was appointed to the Ingersoll-Rand board of directors in 2012.
In August 2013, it was reported that Trian, under Peltz’s management, held an approximate
$1.25 billion ownership stake in E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company.
In January 2014, as one of the company’s largest shareholders, with a current beneficial
ownership of more than 46 million shares, Peltz was appointed to the Board of Directors
of global snacking company, Mondelēz International, Inc..
In February 2014, as a beneficial owner of approximately $1.2 billion of PepsiCo, Inc.
common shares, Trian, under Peltz’s leadership, publicly released a letter to PepsiCo’s
Board of Directors and a white paper detailing why separating global snacks and beverages
into two independent public companies is the right long-term decision for the business
and would create substantial value for shareholders. Peltz’s Trian said it will immediately begin
to engage fellow shareholders in a public dialogue with the goal of creating a groundswell
of support for a separation of snacks and beverages.
In February 2014 Forbes listed Nelson Peltz as one of the 25 Highest-Earning hedge fund
managers in 2013. His 2013 total earnings was $430 millions, ranked 16th among the 25
top earning hedge fund managers. Personal life
Peltz has been married three times. His third wife is Claudia Heffner, a former fashion
model, with whom he has eight children. He has two children from his prior marriages.
Among Peltz' children are actors Nicola Peltz and Will Peltz. His son, Brad Peltz, was a
professional ice hockey player who played in the ECHL during the 2012–13 ECHL season.
Peltz resides in Bedford, New York. He also owns Montsorrel, which is his house in Palm
Beach, Florida previously owned by Anita Young, the sister of Georgia O'Keeffe.
His current net worth is estimated at $1.65 billion.
Philanthropy In 2005, Peltz was among 53 entities that
contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W.
Bush. He is also a heavy contributor to Jewish causes and has been described by The New York
Times as a "compassionate leader" of the New York Jewish community.
Awards and recognition He was recognized by the National Association
of Corporate Directors in 2010, 2011 and 2012 as among the most influential people in global
corporate governance. References
External links Triarc Companies, Inc. info
Nelson and Claudia Peltz Family Foundation Tax Exempt/NonProfit Organization Information