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Matt Peltz, the son of activist investor Nelson Peltz, has built a stake in Intertek, the FTSE 100 group that is both the target of a potential £9.7bn takeover and is also mulling a break-up.
Lost Coast Collective, the firm Peltz founded last year after stepping down as co-chief investment officer of his father’s firm Trian, has built a more than 1 per cent stake in Intertek, worth roughly £88mn, according to a public filing this week.
Peltz’s stake is disclosed as the London-listed company has emerged as a potential takeover target of EQT, the private equity firm. The Swedish group improved its offer on Wednesday to £54 a share after Intertek rejected an earlier bid. The company, which carries out safety testing and certification, said it is considering EQT’s improved proposal.
Lost Coast told the FT that it had commended Intertek’s board and management for rejecting the initial offer that was “way below intrinsic value”. It declined to comment on EQT’s improved offer.
The investment is the Florida-based hedge fund’s first to be made public since Peltz founded the firm last year, according to people familiar with the matter. Lost Coast, which was initially affiliated with Trian but is now independent, manages less than $1bn.
Peltz began buying Intertek stock last year, and the company became one of his first targets as he got Lost Coast off the ground, the people added.
He had already spoken with management and pushed for a potential break-up before Intertek announced on April 14 that it would hold a strategic review to explore separating out its energy and infrastructure business, either through a sale or demerger, the people added.
People familiar with the fund described those talks as “constructive”. Intertek declined to comment on Peltz or Lost Coast’s stake.
Two days later, Intertek confirmed that it had been approached by EQT. Intertek shares have gained about 10 per cent over the past year, after surging following the disclosure of EQT’s bid. Shares closed up at £49.81 on Wednesday in London trading on news of the improved proposal that Intertek was considering.
The stock had plunged 18 per cent in a single day in early March after disappointing forecasts for two of its key business lines.
Peltz told the company’s board of directors in March that he foresaw a host of potential deal opportunities for the company, according to a letter seen by the FT.
Peltz previously worked for nearly two decades at Trian, which has a reputation on Wall Street for hard-charging activist battles against major companies including a drawn-out proxy fight in 2024 against Walt Disney. While at Trian, the younger Peltz sat on company boards including the restaurant chain Wendy’s.
Trian has pursued campaigns in the UK, including at the publicly listed consumer giant Unilever, where it successfully pushed for large asset sales to create a slimmer company focused on health and personal care.
The firm has also taken a stake in the UK pest control group Rentokil, which had been struggling with the integration of its US business Terminix.
Yet the younger Peltz’s activity at Intertek comes amid a broader slowdown of activist campaigns in Europe. The region had just five campaigns in the first quarter of this year, according to data from Barclays, marking a 50 per cent year-on-year drop.