Taylor Wimpey picks internal candidate as CEO in slight to activist investor
Taylor Wimpey has appointed an internal candidate as its new chief executive, in a move likely to anger Elliott Advisors, the activist investor that was pressuring the housebuilder to appoint someone from outside the company.
The appointment of Jennie Daly marks a milestone in the male-dominated industry as Taylor Wimpey becomes the first UK housebuilder to appoint a female chief executive and only the third company in the FTSE 100 to have a female CEO and a female chair.
Daly, who is group operations director, will take over from Pete Redfern, who has led the business for 15 years since it became the UK’s third biggest housebuilder through the merger of Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey in 2007.
The chair, Irene Dormer, said Daly’s skills “set her apart from the other candidates we were considering”.
However, the move will inevitably spark a backlash from Elliott, which in December revealed it was one of the company’s top five investors and went public with demands including finding a new chief executive.
In a nine-page public letter to Dorner, it said shareholders were “unlikely to support a chief executive candidate that represents an extension of the status quo at Taylor Wimpey”.
“The successor must represent a clean break with the current management team,” Elliott wrote. “While there are talented members of the Taylor Wimpey team, any current leader would represent a continuation of the status quo, and have shared in the loss of trust and credibility with investors.”
Elliott reportedly considered the Crest Nicholson chief, Peter Truscott, the former Persimmon boss, Dave Jenkinson, or the Barratt deputy chief executive, Steven Boyes, as its preferred candidates.
Elliott has a reputation for aggressively picking battles at its
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