Ancora Holdings seeks four board seats at Elanco Animal Health (ELAN.N), opens new tab, and to replace the CEO of the pet and livestock drug and immunization maker.
Ancora proposed the director candidates, including an executive, to Elanco's 12-person board and seeks to fire CEO Jeffrey Simmons for poor performance.
Elanco, split off from Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab, is a leading animal health product developer and manufacturer with a $7.8 billion market cap. According to a regulatory filing, Ancora controlled 10.5 million shares, or 2.13% of Elanco, at the end of December.
Sources say Elanco blames Simmons for a 55% share price loss since buying Bayer Animal Health in 2020. Elanco's website says Simmons "guided the acquisition." The share price rose slightly to $15.94 on Thursday.
In January, Ancora presented Elanco with suggestions that Simmons will resign in 2025, sources said. The business said it met with the hedge fund twice after Ancora requested them. A corporate official said "Elanco has taken decisive actions to improve performance," noting that the stock price has risen over 40% in a year and that the company has a "robust and innovative pipeline that will generate further growth."
The company proposed Ancora Alternatives president James Chadwick. Former C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW.O) CFO Andrew Clarke opens new tab, Former Ceva Santé Animale and IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX.O) senior executives Craig Wallace and Kathy Turner open new tab.
The company's annual meeting, where investors choose directors, has not been scheduled if the two sides have not settled the dispute. We met in May last year. Elanco has stated that it will alter its governing documents to include annual director elections.
In 2020, it agreed to board seats with Sachem Head Capital Management, but Starboard Value pressured it to withdraw its nominations in 2021. Ancora also wants to replace the CEO of Norfolk Southern (NSC.N) by nominating eight independent directors.
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