Activist Fund Elliott Management Wants GlaxoSmithKline Board Shakeup For 'Years Of Under Management'

Elliott Management has finally made its intentions around GlaxoSmithKline plc GSK known and calls for changes to rescue GSK from what it called "years of under-management."
In an open letter to GSK Chairman Jonathan Symonds, the investment firm wants a "fit-for-purpose" board to choose "the best possible leadership" for GSK and its upcoming consumer health spinoff.
The demand marks a challenge to the current leadership of CEO Emma Walmsley, who is already struggling to win over key shareholders.
Since reports emerged in April that Elliott had taken a significant stake in GSK, the fund has been trying to win investor support to remove Walmsley after the separation.
Elliott has reportedly said that Walmsley should head the outgoing consumer health business rather than the remaining GSK focused on drugs and vaccines.
At the investor event, Walmsley outlined GSK's goal of delivering annual sales growth of 5% in the next five years and reaching £33 billion in revenues by 2031.
While the investor update was "an important step in the right direction," it "was not sufficient to resolve GSK's credibility challenges," Elliott said in its letter.
Further, Elliott also said it was against GSK's idea to integrate the vaccine and pharma departments after the consumer health split. The vaccine business should instead be autonomous, the firm wrote.
Elliott based its recommendations on what it called "severe underperformance" at GSK because of "years of under-management." By Elliott's calculation, the new GSK and consumer health unit warrant a combined valuation that's more than 45% higher than GSK's valuation today.
Price Action: GSK shares are up 1.04% at $40.24 during the market session on the last check Thursday.
Photo by Stekzar via Wikimedia

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