Brenntag Activist Escalates Fight, Seeks Board Seats at AGM (1)

Activist investors in Brenntag SE plan to nominate dissident directors to the supervisory board of the German chemical distributor, escalating a campaign to break the company in two.

The move by shareholder PrimeStone Capital, disclosed in a letter Tuesday seen by Bloomberg, follows meetings last month that failed to convince Brenntag Chief Executive Officer Christian Kohlpaintner to quickly split the specialty division from essential chemicals. PrimeStone and other activists want to separate the two operations to improve profit margins and lift the stock. The London fund’s recent request for an expanded board with two of its nominees was ignored. ...