BAYRY - Bayer gains as activist Jeff Ubben pushes for outside CEO
- Bayer ( OTCPK:BAYRY ) rose 3% in European trading amid a report that activist investor Jeff Ubben wants the German chemicals and drug maker to hire a chief executive from outside the company.
- “It would be a clean break from the past, which has been internal hires," Ubben told the FT in an interview.
- The report comes after Ubben's Inclusive Capital Partners hedge fund disclosed it had acquired a 0.83% stake in the company. The fund said it acquired 8.18M Bayer ( OTCPK:BAYRY ) shares as of January 5, or more than €407M (~$435M) based on that day's closing price.
- Bayer declined to comment to the FT on Ubben's comments.
- Bayer ( OTCPK:BAYRY ) shares have been weighed down by the threat of further litigation over alleged carcinogenic effects of its weedkiller Roundup; the stock's market value for all its businesses totals ~$50B, well below the $63B deal value for its 2018 takeover of Roundup-maker Monsanto.
- Ubben told the FT that Bayer management should consider new options to resolve the glyphosate litigation, including splitting into two separate entities in order to ringfence legal liabilities in a new entity. Johnson & Johnson announced a similar move in regards to its talc powder litigation late in 2021.
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Bayer gains as activist Jeff Ubben pushes for outside CEO