Catalent Inc., the drug-product manufacturer dogged by issues at its facilities, will add four new members to its board and undertake a strategic review as part of a settlement with activist investor Elliott Investment Management.
(Bloomberg) — Catalent Inc., the drug-product manufacturer dogged by issues at its facilities, will add four new members to its board and undertake a strategic review as part of a settlement with activist investor Elliott Investment Management.
The board will now have 16 directors, Catalent said Tuesday in a statement. It also announced the formation of a new Strategic and Operational Review Committee, helmed by the board’s new executive chairman, longtime health-care executive John Greisch.
Catalent shares rose 4.1% in early trading at 7:59 a.m. New York time.
Catalent has struggled to find its footing after a pandemic boom driven by partnerships with Covid-19 vaccine makers. Numerous concerns about the state of its manufacturing facilities have been raised by Food and Drug Administration inspections. The Somerset, New Jersey-based company previously said it has taken steps to address the concerns.
The company also unveiled its forecasts for fiscal 2024 in a separate statement. The revenue projection exceeded analyst estimates while the outlook for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization came in below expectations.
Greisch has sat on boards of a number of companies that ended up being acquired in recent years, including medical-records systems provider Cerner Corp., which was bought by Oracle Corp. in 2022. He was also on the board at Swiss drugmaker Actelion when it was taken over by Johnson & Johnson in 2017.Â
Elliott has a track record of pushing through sales at companies once it gets its executives in the boardroom. In 2019, eBay Inc. sold its ticket marketplace StubHub after adding activist investors including Elliott’s Jesse Cohn to its board. More recently, Japan’s Toshiba Corp., which counts Elliott’s senior portfolio manager Nabeel Bhanji among its board members, has agreed to sell itself.
(Adds details on Greisch, Elliott in final two paragraphs.)
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