Freshpet's Largest Shareholder, Jana Partners, Pushes for Strategic Overhaul

Jana Partners plans to launch a proxy battle with Freshpet Inc FRPT and nominate four directors.
Jana is the largest shareholder in the pet food company, with an approximate stake of 9.3%.
At its peak, Freshpet had a market value of around $8 billion, now around $3.2 billion.
Jana says in the letter that more than half of Freshpet’s independent directors “pursued outside interests with corporate resources and key members of management.”
In September, The Wall Street Journal reported that Jana had amassed a sizable stake in Freshpet and planned to push it to make changes to boost its stock price and explore a sale.
Jana now argues that the board has “disregarded its most basic duties to shareholders,” according to the letter, first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
A spokesperson for Freshpet said the company has engaged with Jana “extensively” over the past nine months to address the firm’s concerns.
“Unfortunately, Jana has made clear to us that their sole purpose is to force a sale of the company without consideration to all potential paths to value creation,” the spokesperson said. “
Earlier this month, Freshpet reported first-quarter FY23 sales growth of 26.7% year-on-year to $167.52 million, beating the consensus of $166.90 million.
Freshpet sees FY23 sales of about $750 million (consensus $752.3 million), representing an increase of ~26% from 2022.
Price Action: FRPT shares closed at $66.20 on Wednesday.