Hain chief responds to talk of a Nestle takeover
Hain Celestial Group chief executive Irwin Simon at his Melville headquarters. Credit: Howard Schnapp, 2009
The Hain Celestial Group’s chief executive commented this week on a report that Nestle SA, of Switzerland, could see his company as a takeover target.
"We're an exciting company, a public company," Irwin Simon said on CNBC, the news channel reported Wednesday. "If it was right for our shareholders, it's right for the company."
The idea of Nestle — or another large company, Unilever — buying the Melville natural foods maker was first broached in a report on SeekingAlpha.com earlier this month. The website obtained a UBS report saying the two might be interested in the buy. The website added, though, that recent share increases have affected Hain’s price-earnings ratio, and may have made it a less attractive takeover target.
In the CNBC interview, Simon also commented on the two board members Hain was forced to accept under pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn, a major shareholder.
Icahn’s two board members have been "helpful," Simon told CNBC. "We look for a relationship that will be fruitful for both of us," he said.
'I've never seen fire sitting on the water' Three Newsday photographers talk to NewsdayTV's Macy Egeland about covering the tragic crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996.
'I've never seen fire sitting on the water' Three Newsday photographers talk to NewsdayTV's Macy Egeland about covering the tragic crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996.
