Activist investor Jana Partners has 10% stake in pet food maker Freshpet - WSJ (updated)

TreeHouse Foods

22/09/2022 20:58

(Adds background on Jana)
       Sept 22 (Reuters) - Activist investor Jana Partners has
a nearly 10% stake in pet food maker Freshpet Inc  FRPT.O , the
Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar
with the matter.
    The investor plans to push Freshpet to take steps to boost
its stock price, including exploring a sale, the report said. (https://on.wsj.com/3f1ft2Y)
    The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters request
for comment. 
    Jana Partners has a history of pushing for change in the
food and beverage industry. It had previously urged for changes
at Whole Foods that was later sold to Amazon  AMZN.O , and at
Pinnacle Foods, which Conagra Brands  CAG.N  acquired in a
nearly $11 billion deal in 2018.
    The investor has also been pushing for changes at packaged
food maker TreeHouse Foods Inc  THS.N  since last year. In
April, TreeHouse said it had appointed Scott Ostfeld, a partner
at Jana, to its board as part of an agreement with the New
York-based company.
     Shares of Freshpet gained 17% in afternoon trade. The
company has lost nearly three-fifths of its market
capitalization so far this year, as markets slipped due to rate
hikes and inflation.
 (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Ananya Mariam Rajesh in
Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
 ((Niket.Nishant@thomsonreuters.com;))