MARKET REPORT: Rentokil shares rise as activist Trian intervenes
An activist investor’s share building led to a jump into leading pest control company Rentokil Initial.
A brief statement revealed that Trian Fund Management, a founding partner of US billionaire Nelson Peltz, whose daughter Nicola is married to Brooklyn Beckham, recently acquired 7.5 million shares in the British company for a total of £31 million.
The move comes after Brian Baldwin, head of research at Trian, was appointed non-executive director of Rentokil at the end of September.
Earlier that month, Rentokil shares had fallen about 20 percent after a profit warning and have recovered only slightly since.
Trian could increase pressure for meaningful change at Rentokil, which has struggled since its major takeover of US company Terminix in 2022. Options could include shifting Rentokil’s primary listing to the US and possibly selling it of underperforming parts of the business.
At the time of Baldwin’s appointment, Trian confirmed to the British company that the investment vehicles it manages held approximately 57.1 million Rentokil Initial shares, representing a stake of approximately 2.26 percent.
Bouncing back: Rentokil has struggled since its major takeover of US company Terminix in 2022
Rentokil Initial shares topped the FTSE 100 leaderboard, rising 3.5 percent, or 14p, to 412.9p.
Ending a turbulent week, the FTSE 100 index closed 0.1 percent, or 11.43 points, lower at 8300.33, and the FTSE 250 index ended 0.3 percent, or 59.89 points, lower at 20889.15.
On the FTSE 250, Greggs rose 1.9 per cent, or 52p, to 2834p after a start of coverage at ‘outperform’ by analysts at investment bank RBC Capital, who believe the shares are oversold.
But on the other hand, Tullow Oil fell 9.9 percent, or 2.56p, to 23.44p, following a jump in the previous session after the oil and gas operator revealed preliminary takeover talks were underway with Kosmos Energy. Kosmos lost 7.1 percent, or 20 cents, to 261 cents.
And Ecofin US Renewables fell 19.9 percent, or 6.5 cents, to 26.2 cents, as the infrastructure fund proposed the sale of its investments in US distributed solar assets to a subsidiary of True Green Capital.
There have been mixed fortunes in the fund management industry. AIM-listed Impax Asset Management fell 23.1 per cent, or 75.5p, to 252p after FTSE 250-listed asset manager St James’s Place ended the firm’s mandate to manage its Sustainable & Responsible Equity Fund .
The fund, which represents the only business Impax has with St James’s Place, had a total of £5.2 billion in assets under management at the end of November.
However, St James’s Place gained 2 per cent, or 18p, to 914p, boosted by an upgrade to ‘buy’ from analysts at Deutsche Bank. St James’s Place returns to the FTSE 100 index later this month.
Meanwhile, FTSE 100-listed asset manager Schroders fell 0.3 per cent, or 0.8p, to 318p, following a report that it will sell its Indonesian operations as it considers exiting some sub-scale markets under boss Richard Oldfield, who took over. last month.
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