Taylor Wimpey Picks Internal Nominee for CEO in Slight For Activist Investor | Taylor Wimpy

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Taylor Wimpey has named an internal candidate as its new CEO, in a move likely to anger Elliott Advisors, the activist investor who has been lobbying the home builder to hire someone outside the company.

The appointment of Jenny Daly marks a milestone in the male-dominated industry, with Taylor Wimpey becoming the first UK homebuilder to appoint a female CEO and the third company in the FTSE 100 to have a female CEO and chairwoman.

Daly, who is Group Operations Director, will take over from Pete Redfern, who has led the company for 15 years since it became the UK’s third largest homebuilder through the merger of Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey in 2007.

Principal, Erin Dormer, said Daly’s skills “set her apart from the other candidates we’ve been studying.”

However, the move is likely to spark a backlash from Elliott, which revealed in December that it was one of the company’s five largest investors and had made its demands, including finding a new CEO, public.

In a nine-page public letter to Dorner, she said shareholders are “unlikely to support a CEO candidate who is an extension of Taylor Wimpey’s status quo.”

“The successor should represent a clean break with the current management team,” Elliott wrote. “While there are talented members of Taylor Wimpey’s team, any current leader would represent a continuation of the status quo, and he has shared in the loss of confidence and credibility with investors.”

Elliott reportedly considered Crest Nicholson’s president, Peter Truscott, ex-Persimon boss, Dave Jenkinson, or Barratt’s executive vice president, Stephen Boyce, as her favorites.

“We’ve engaged with all of our major stakeholders regarding the succession process, including Elliott,” a spokeswoman for Taylor Wimpey said Monday.

Elliott has a reputation for picking fights hard at restructuring targets, which have included the Argentine government, miner BHP, GSK and Telecom Italia.

“Jenny has extensive experience in the home construction sector and has demonstrated exceptional leadership and acute operational focus,” Dorner said. “Her strong focus on execution, combined with her customer-centric and people-centric skills, sets her apart from the other candidates we have been studying.”

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Daly, who joined Redrow’s Taylor Wimpey in 2014, will formally take over as CEO at the company’s annual meeting on April 26. Taylor Wimpey is still looking for non-executive directors.

In the first half of 2021, the UK’s third-largest homebuilder finished a record number of homes, returned to profits and raised expectations for the full year, with results to be published in March.

Analysts said Elliott was drawn to Taylor Wimpey due to Britain’s housing shortage and the company’s hidden potential, including a land bank, but some believed it needed to improve its operating performance. Its shares have fallen by a quarter since February 2020.

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