E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company DD
DuPont's consolidated structure masks ~86% upside; separating GrowthCo, Performance Chemicals, and CyclicalCo/CashCo plus peer-level margins delivers an implied $122 target value by end-2017.
Thesis
Trian argues that DuPont's consolidated conglomerate structure hides substantial value by burying best-in-class businesses under $2-4bn of excess corporate costs. Trian's sum-of-parts model, originally laid out in the September 2014 Summary White Paper, breaks DuPont into three segments — GrowthCo (Agriculture, Biosciences, Nutrition & Health), Performance Chemicals, and CyclicalCo/CashCo — benchmarks each against peers like Monsanto, Syngenta, 3M, and Huntsman, and arrives at a blended 9.9x NTM EV/EBITDA multiple. Applying 410bps of margin improvement through 2018, 2x net leverage, a 10% dividend CAGR, and a 33% tax rate yields $114.50 per share plus $7.47 of collected dividends, totaling $121.97 by year-end 2017 — 86.6% upside. If elected, Trian's nominees will work with the Board to decide whether to separate the portfolio or optimize performance within the existing structure.
SCQA
DuPont is a diversified chemicals and materials conglomerate spanning high-growth agriculture/biosciences, cyclical performance materials, and commodity performance chemicals — a portfolio of best-in-class businesses wrapped inside a single consolidated entity.
The consolidated structure saddles each segment with $2-4bn of excess corporate costs and sub-peer margins, preventing DuPont from trading at the segment-multiples its best-in-class peers command.
Elect Trian's four nominees via the gold proxy card so they can evaluate separating GrowthCo, Performance Chemicals, and CyclicalCo/CashCo and drive 410bps of margin improvement to peer-level performance.
A sum-of-parts using a 9.9x blended NTM EV/EBITDA multiple and peer-level margins yields $121.97 per share including dividends by year-end 2017 — 86.6% upside and a ~21% IRR.
The three reasons
- 1
Sum-of-parts implies $121.97/share by 12/31/17 — 86.6% upside, ~21% IRR
- 2
DuPont carries $2-4bn of excess corporate costs hiding best-in-class segments
- 3
Separation forces multiple re-rating to peer-benchmarked 9.9x blended EV/EBITDA
Primary demands
- Elect Trian's four nominees to the DuPont Board at the 2015 Annual Meeting
- Evaluate separating DuPont into GrowthCo, Performance Chemicals, and CyclicalCo/CashCo
- Eliminate $2-4bn of excess corporate costs and drive 410bps of margin improvement
- Maintain prudent 2x net debt/EBITDA leverage with investment-grade rating
- Grow dividend at 10% CAGR and return all excess free cash flow to shareholders
KPIs cited
Pattern membership
Where this document fits across the library's 12 rhetorical / structural patterns.
Notable slides (3)
Notes
Short supplemental proxy-fight deck filed in April 2015 during Trian's contested election for four DuPont board seats. Cross-refers to Trian's September 16, 2014 Summary White Paper and the February 17, 2015 full White Paper (pp. 71-72 for the $2-4bn excess-cost estimate). Every page carries a 'VOTE THE GOLD PROXY CARD' ribbon. Page 5 contains the explicit sum-of-parts by segment (GrowthCo, Performance Chemicals, CyclicalCo/CashCo). No single named author/signatory on the document; credit is firm-level. No explicit stake percentage disclosed in this deck. No CEO quote, no peer-gap chart, no before/after framing — this is a compact, numbers-first supplement rather than a full thesis deck. Outcome: Trian narrowly lost the May 2015 vote but DuPont later announced Dow merger and Agriculture/Materials/Specialty spin-offs, widely viewed as validating the thesis.