Bayer Taps Ubben for Board and Changes Consumer Health Chief

(Bloomberg) — Bayer AG plans to add activist investor Jeffrey Ubben to its supervisory board in the latest shakeup at the troubled chemicals and drugs company before a capital markets event next week.

Ubben, the founder of Inclusive Capital Partners in California, is one of three new independent candidates that the German company will propose to shareholders at the annual meeting in April, according to a statement Thursday.

Separately, Bayer said that it’s promoting Julio Triana, a 22-year company veteran, to lead the consumer health division from May 1 after Heiko Schipper steps down to pursue an opportunity outside of Bayer. That unit has been something of a bright spot at Bayer, achieving profitable growth with no crises while the pharma division struggles with a weak pipeline of experimental medicines and the crops arm battles a wave of litigation over Roundup herbicide.

The personnel moves are the latest change at the crisis-rattled Germany company since Bill Anderson took over as chief executive officer in June. The Texas native has instituted operational changes designed to speed up decision-making, cutting layers of management and eliminating thousands of jobs. He’s also slashed the dividend by 95% and been reviewing the conglomerate strategy, which currently includes three divisions, focused on crop science, pharmaceuticals and consumer health products.

Bayer is also nominating Lori Schechter, a litigation expert, and Nancy Simonian, a biotechnology expert, for appointment to its board. Schechter was general counsel of the US health-care services company McKesson Corp., from which she plans to retire this year, Bayer said. Simonian was CEO for more than a decade at biotech company Syros Pharmaceuticals.

Bayer’s consumer health division has been in the spotlight for months as the company considers whether to separate it from the pharma and crops divisions. Some investors say doing so could bring in much needed money to pay down debt and invest in the company’s weak pipeline of experimental medicines. 

Read More: Bayer Investor Harris Sees Potential in Breakup of German Firm

Others have cautioned that doing so could encourage plaintiff attorneys in the US to ratchet up their legal attacks against Bayer, especially when it comes to the weedkiller Roundup. Tens of thousands of plaintiffs are still accusing the company of selling a product that caused their cancer, which Bayer denies. Bayer has nonetheless pledged to spend as much as $16 billion to resolve all that litigation — yet it’s so far been unable to put a lid on the legal mess.

Activist Action 

Inclusive Capital disclosed a nearly 1% stake in Bayer in January 2023 and called for the company to bring in an outsider to replace then Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann. Not long afterward, Bayer appointed Anderson, the former pharmaceutical head of Roche Holding AG, who took over on June 1.

Bayer also appointed Ubben last year to an independent panel that advises the company on sustainability issues. It was a small step for Ubben to exert more influence on Bayer, since the council is far less powerful than the supervisory board, which provides oversight of the company and can appoint and remove top managers.

Ubben, who co-founded activist investment firms ValueAct and later Inclusive Capital, has made a name investing as a friendly activist shaking up large corporations. San Francisco-based Inclusive Capital, which focused on ESG investment, is winding down and returning capital to investors.

Ubben has been an active member on corporate boards for much of his career. He joined Exxon Mobil Corp.’s board in 2021 following investor criticism of the oil giant for its environmental record and poor financial performance. The company was defeated that year by another fund, Engine No. 1, which placed three directors on its board.  

Bayer shares are down more than 70% since it acquired Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018 and inherited a host of legal problems that have dogged its performance ever since. 

–With assistance from Crystal Tse.

(Updates with information throughout)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.