(Reuters) -Private equity firm KKR has taken a large stake in Henry Schein and reached a deal to add members to the company’s board, the distributor of medical products said on Wednesday.
Shares of Henry Schein were up more than 3% at $78.54 premarket.
The medical and dental supplies distributor, which has a market capitalization of about $9.5 billion, has reportedly come under pressure from other investors in recent weeks, who have been pushing the company to compete effectively with large distributors such as Cardinal Health.
The activist investor Ananym Capital Management had plans to nominate as many as six directors to the board at Henry Schein, Reuters reported earlier in January, arguing the company needs to start searching for a new CEO, cut costs and optimize capital allocation.
KKR will become the largest non-index fund shareholder of Henry Schein with a 12% stake.
Under the agreement, Max Lin and William Daniel will join Henry Schein’s board as independent directors.
Lin is a partner at KKR where he leads the healthcare industry team. He will join the nominating and governance committees as vice chair to participate in Henry Schein’s governance matters, including the board composition and the ongoing CEO succession planning process.
Daniel is an executive advisor to KKR and former executive at life sciences firm Danaher
Henry Schein’s board has also appointed Robert Hombach as an independent director, who is expected to join the board’s Strategic Advisory Committee.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the deal.
KKR has experience in the dental business and owns the dental groups Heartland Dental and 123Dentist.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
