Nelson Peltz - Biography

Nelson Peltz is an American businessman. He is a board director of Wendy's Group, the franchise parent of T.J. Cinnamons, Pasta Connection and Wendy's. Peltz is the former owner of Snapple.

Background

Peltz was born ~1930 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Claire (née Wechsler) and Maurice Herbert Peltz, who developed the Flagstaff Corporation. He was enrolled at the undergraduate program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, but never completed his degree. He dropped out to work for his family's business selling food to restaurants in New York.

Peltz resides in Mount Kisco, New York. He also owns a house in Paris, France, and Montsorrel (or "Mountain of Sorrow"), which is his house in Palm Beach, Florida previously owned by Anita Young, the sister of Georgia O'Keeffe. According to Forbes, it is one of the most expensive homes in the United States.

In 2005, Peltz was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.

Peltz' daughter is actress Nicola Peltz.

Business career

Heinz proxy fight

In 2006 he was involved in a proxy fight with Heinz to get five members of his company Triarc on the board of Heinz. In the end he succeeded in getting two members on the board.

Corporate acquisitions

Nelson Peltz first gained national notice with an audacious takeover bid for National Can in late 1984. The takeover vehicle was Triangle Industries, controlled by Mr. Peltz and Steven May, which was in the wire and cable and vending machine businesses and was smaller than National. The bid was backed up by Mike Milken at Drexel Burnham who placed hi-yield bonds and preferred stock to fund the purchase, which closed in early summer 1985. Following the purchase National Can did well under the direction of Mr. Peltz and the company's long time CEO, Mr. Frank Considine. Thanks to the increased profits at National Can and with Mr. Milken's support, Mr. Peltz and Mr. May were able to purchase a packaging business from American Can and a chemical business from Uniroyal, giving them control of an industrial empire with revenues in excess of $4 Billion. Quite a step up from Triangle's pre-acquisition revenues of about $300 million.

In 2007 he bought a 3% share of Cadbury-Schweppes which may have influenced the spin-off of Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages from the Cadbury Schweppes confectionary group. In 2007, he also bought $1.8 billion in shares of Kraft Foods, roughly a 3% of the total equity of the food maker.

On Thursday, April 24, 2008 it was announced that Triarc Cos. would merge with burger chain Wendy's. The merger was completed on Sept. 29, 2008. The new company is named Wendy's Arby's Group and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WEN. The new company consists mainly of Wendy's and Arby's QSR chain restaurants.

In mid-February 2011, Mr. Peltz's investment vehicle the Trian Group, announced it had accumulated an 8% stake in the Family Dollar company and indicated a willingness to participate in a take private LBO for the company with a total value of about $7 to 8 billion. This overture was rejected by the company management and Board of Directors. However, the price of Family Dollar shares had increased in early March 2011 by 20% to 25% over the value in mid-February indicating a nice profit for Mr. Peltz if he can manage to liquidate his rather substantial position at the new higher price.

Curriculum vitae

• Trian CEO (2007- )
• Triarc Chairman & CEO (1993–2007)
• Triangle Industries, Inc. Chairman and CEO (1983–88)
• Member of the Board of Encore Capital Group (-2007)
• Member of the Board of Heinz (2006-)
• Member of the Board of Triarc (as Chairman, 1993-)
• Avon Old Farms School Trustee (2007-)
• Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum Trustee
• Milken Institute Overseer
• Prostate Cancer Foundation Board of Directors
• Simon Wiesenthal Center Co-Chairman

Personal finance

His current net worth is estimated at $1.1 billion. Peltz resides in both an oceanside mansion in Palm Beach, Florida and in a country house in Greenwich, Connecticut .

In December 2010 he was rumored to be interested in the purchase of the New York Islanders hockey club from Charles Wang, formerly of CA Inc.

According to CNBC, on February 15, 2011, Peltz offered to buy Family Dollar for $55-60 per share.

External links

• An aerial view of his $50 million Palm Beach, Florida home
• US campaign contributions by Claudia Peltz
• TriArc Companies, Inc. info
• Nelson and Claudia Peltz Family Foundation Tax Exempt/NonProfit Organization Information