(Reuters) -Activist investor Elliott Investment has built a significant stake in Catalent and is pushing for a shake-up on the contract drug manufacturer’s board, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Elliott has been talking to potential director candidates about joining a slate of nominees to run in a proxy contest, WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The push comes at a turbulent time for the contract drug manufacturer, which said in April that slow production at three of its facilities would impact its fiscal 2023 results and that chief financial officer Thomas Castellano had stepped down.
The company named Matti Masanovich as its CFO in June.
The exact size of Elliott’s stake in Catalent could not be learned, WSJ added. Catalent has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion.
Catalent manufactures drugs, vaccines and gene therapies at 55 different sites for major pharmaceutical companies, including Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine.
It is currently the sole contract manufacturer for Novo Nordisk’s highly popular weight loss drug Wegovy, which uses the same ingredient as its diabetes drug Ozempic.
Elliott and Catalent did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
(Reporting by Lavanya Ahire and Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)
