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Inside Artisan’s Battle With Danone — And What Critics Got Wrong
Artisan Partners的投资组合经理被描绘成短期积极分子，但他们更换达能CEO的努力对于传统的只做长期投资的基金来说是一个胜利。
丹尼尔·奥基夫和大卫·萨姆拉不想打架。
Artisan Partners投资组合经理分别负责管理公司的全球价值团队和国际价值团队，他们通常基于对CEO和管理团队的信任，对价值被低估的公司进行投资。他们把自己定位为传统的只做多的投资者，而不是推动大变革以推高公司股价的对冲基金积极分子。
不过，每隔一段时间，奥基夫和萨姆拉就会决定，他们需要直接接触投资组合公司的董事会，游说他们做出改变，而不是只是等待形势好转或出售自己的头寸。与法国食品公司达能（Danone）合作，Artisan投资组合经理调查了该公司管理层的历史行为，发现了一些需要解决的问题，其中包括一个公司治理结构，该结构将权力赋予了一个兼任董事长和首席执行官的人。
Artisan wasn’t the only traditional investor calling for change. Causeway Capital Management, a long term value-oriented investment manager, had been in private discussions with management since the middle of last year, according to sources familiar with Causeway. At the time, some of Danone’s products, particularly bottled water, had been hard hit by Covid-19 and the company was losing a number of executives, including the CFO.
On February 11, O’Keefe and Samra published a信outlining their views, which they addressed to Danone’s incoming lead independent director, Gilles Schnepp.
The letter called for the split of the chairman and CEO role — both of which were held by Emmanuel Faber — and asked that the chairman and directors be kept independent by excluding the company’s old leadership.
In the letter, the Artisan portfolio managers pinned Danone’s problems on the company’s failure to invest in innovation, product development, and product support, among other things. While O’Keefe and Samra acknowledged that Faber had made Danone into a more environmentally-sustainable and socially responsible company — the E and the S in ESG — they argued that he had neglected the G of corporate governance.
“We do not take lightly our decision to go public with our views. It is neither our preference nor a feature of our investment strategies,” they wrote. “But Danone is beginning yet another re-organization involving a new structure that has not proven successful at other global food companies... Timing has become critical, and there is an opportunity now to make changes that can reinvigorate the company.”
据知情人士透露，2月中旬，奥基夫和萨姆拉在三次会议的第一次会议上向公司首席独立董事提出了他们的战略，以确定达能。几天后，投资组合经理们在法德银行ODDO BHF组织的投资者聚会上也做了同样的宣传。
到那时，工匠投资组合经理已经悄悄地与董事会来回了几个月。据报道，萨姆拉在奥多必和必拓（ODDO BHF）会议前告诉董事会和给他打电话的记者，他和他的团队不是活动家，声称他们没有要求公司分拆，也没有要求任何金融工程——这都是典型的活动家手法。据消息人士透露，在与董事会的讨论中，这些手工投资组合经理甚至从未提及股价。
[二深潜：激进的对冲基金争夺公司董事会席位。研究表明这没什么区别。]
奥基夫和萨姆拉— like Causeway and a number of other value-oriented managers — had bought the company’s stock because they believe Danone has valuable consumer brands in areas of the market that are growing. But, as the Artisan portfolio managers noted in their February 11 letter, the company hasn’t been able to deliver good financial results. Danone has been struggling with slowing growth, a flat to declining market share, and falling profitability, even as some competitors thrived.
所以工匠投资组合经理参与了董事会。
But Danone is based in France, a country where activists — or any investors that look or smell like activists — are rare. France has a unique system of capitalism, legal structures, and process around public companies. And activists are not welcome.
Pepsi famously tried and failed to buy Danone 15 years ago, and hedge fund activist Nelson Peltz bought a small stake in the company in 2012. But Peltz’s efforts went nowhere.
People familiar with the situation said Danone’s high profile in the French stock market may have made it tempting for critics to brand the Artisan portfolio managers as activists, even though they don’t usually go after companies that need to be fixed. One source familiar with the situation said that if there’s a proof point that the Artisan managers are not activists, it’s that they were not shown the door. And they haven’t always raised their voices. They’ve owned Sodexo, a French catering company hard hit by Covid-19, for 14 years and “they’ve never uttered a peep publicly,” the source said.
据一位熟悉会议情况的消息人士透露，奥基夫和萨姆拉在今年2月向达能董事会私下陈述时，借鉴了达能内部人士和前雇员的信息，掌握了大量的调查结果和数据。Artisan global value和international value基金管理着450亿美元的总资产，从2020年3月开始购买达能股份，目前持有达能超过3%的股份，价值约16亿美元。
Last October, Samra got in touch with Jan Bennink, who had run Danone’s dairy and specialized nutrition groups, which make up two of the company’s three divisions. The Artisan portfolio managers tapped Bennink to help them draft the plan for a turnaround, according to the February 11 letter.
达能在2月19日宣布全年业绩后（Artisan团队称之为“差劲”），有关达能董事会计划在3月1日召开会议，讨论公司治理和CEO的传闻开始甚嚣尘上。
奥基夫和萨姆拉这次写信给全体董事会，辩称达能的问题并非短期的。事实上，他们说这些问题早在科维德之前就出现了，而且费伯的重组计划也行不通。他们再次呼吁分设董事长和首席执行官的职位，并要求费伯下台。
“用自己的话来说，管理层正在着手对公司进行再创新和重塑，”报告写道。“将减少现任管理团队的管理费用，出售现任管理团队购买的品牌。当前管理团队创造的工作岗位和雇佣的员工将被终止。这些都是管理失败的标志。”
在3月1日的会议上，董事会announcedthat it had decided to split the chairman and CEO roles. But Faber would remain as chairman, meaning he would be the boss of whoever the company appointed as its new CEO.
Undeterred, Samra and O’Keefe reached out again, publishing a第三个字母to the Danone board of directors on March 3.
他们认为，董事会缺乏行业经验，充满冲突。两位副主席中有一位是公司的前首席财务官，任何新上任的首席执行官基本上都是在执行前首席执行官的政策。他们要求董事会任命一名“真正独立的董事长”，并至少增加一名具有相关消费品经验的董事。
3月15日，董事会终于罢免了费伯。据消息人士透露，在费伯组建的董事会中，15名成员中有10名投了反对票。
萨姆拉除了说他的努力的最终结果是值得的之外，没有对这个故事发表评论。
“It’s a victory for the French system of capitalism and the Danone board of directors,” he said.