On January 29, private equity firm KKR acquired a significant stake in Henry Schein and has reached an agreement to appoint additional members to the company's board, the medical product distributor announced Wednesday.
Henry Schein's shares rose over 3% to $78.54 in premarket trading.
With a market capitalization of approximately $9.5 billion, the distributor has faced increasing pressure from investors to enhance its competitive stance against major distributors like Cardinal Health.
Ananym Capital Management, an activist investor, had expressed intentions in January to nominate up to six directors to Henry Schein's board, advocating for the recruitment of a new CEO, cost reduction, and improved capital allocation.
KKR is set to become the largest non-index fund shareholder of Henry Schein, securing a 12% stake.
As part of the agreement, Max Lin and William Daniel will be welcomed as independent directors on Henry Schein's board. Lin, a KKR partner leading the healthcare industry team, will serve as vice chair on the nominating and governance committees, actively contributing to governance matters such as board composition and CEO succession planning.
Daniel, an executive advisor to KKR and former executive at life sciences company Danaher, will also join the board.
Additionally, Robert Hombach has been appointed as an independent director and is anticipated to join the board's Strategic Advisory Committee.
The deal was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
KKR's involvement in the dental industry includes ownership of dental groups Heartland Dental and 123Dentist.