TreeHouse Foods has taken on two new directors in an agreement with Jana Partners, an investment firm that is pressing for a new direction for the company.
Jana, which has a 7.5% stake in TreeHouse, had been seeking a strategic review that included a possible sale. Jana has a history of pushing for sales of consumer goods companies, including Pinnacle Foods and PetSmart, as well as retailers Whole Foods and Safeway.
The two new partners are John Gainor Jr. and Kenneth Tuchman. Gainor is a former CEO of International Dairy Queen, while Tuchman is an investment banker who has worked for Bank of Montreal Capital Markets and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
TreeHouse, a processor of private-label goods, has been struggling since 2016. Current CEO Steve Oakland, hired in 2018, has been trying to turn the company around by selling off units. It turned a profit last year after a 2019 loss of $110 million.
"We are encouraged by the steps [TreeHouse] has been taking, including these director additions, and by the ongoing commitment to unlocking stockholder value,” Barry Rosenstein, Jana’s managing partner, said in a statement.
