Nelson Peltz’s Trian takes board seat at pest control maker Rentokil

• Rentokil Initial said on Wednesday that Trian partner Brian Baldwin would join the Terminix owner’s board effective next week.
• The accession comes three months after Trian first disclosed a roughly $400 million position in Rentokil and two weeks after the company issued a profit warning.
• Rentokil has struggled since its nearly $7 billion acquisition of Terminix in 2021.

Pest control maker Rentokil Initial said Wednesday that Trian partner Brian Baldwin would join the Terminix owner’s board effective next week.

The company said Baldwin, who has worked at Nelson Peltz’s firm since 2007, will also join the nominating and compensation committees. The accession comes three months after Trian first disclosed a roughly $400 million position in Rentokil, and two weeks after the company issued a profit warning.

Rentokil has struggled since it completed its nearly $7 billion acquisition of Terminix in 2022. Initially cheered by analysts, the company has had difficulty fully integrating the two businesses. Shares are down around 10% year-to-date, but lifted around 2.7% in Wednesday on the news of Baldwin’s appointment.

Baldwin also sits on the board of Janus Henderson, the $335 billion asset manager.

Peltz’s Trian has a long history of turning around struggling businesses, largely in the consumer sector. Peltz has sat on the boards of Proctor and Gamble, the former Heinz company, and Mondelez. His company mounted a proxy fight at Disney earlier this year, failing to secure a board seat but still making around $1 billion off the investment.