Whitbread shareholders vote down activist investor Corvex

9th Nov 2026 15:38

(Sharecast News) - Shareholders in Premier Inn-owner Whitbread have overwhelmingly voted down an attempt by activist investor Corvex Management to install a partner on the board.

The US hedge fund is the blue chip's third-largest shareholder, with a stake of around 6%, and in September demanded that partner James Gemmel be appointed to the board with immediate effect. However, on Monday shareholders rejected the move, with 83.41% of those partaking voting against the resolution.

Christine Hodgson, chair, said: "The overwhelming majority of our shareholders have voted decisively to back the board and our strategy, and I would like to thank them for their support.

"We will now continue to focus on delivering our five-year plan, which has clear and measurable milestones to drive significant value for shareholders, and which we are already executing at pace."

Corvex - which is run by Keith Meister, who previously worked with billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn - first disclosed its stake in December, and has since then been pushing Whitbread to split its business into separate hotel and property companies. In May it called for the company to launch a sale process.

It has since rowed back on both demands. However, Gemmel has previously argued that Whitbread was continuing to pursue "the same strategy that has delivered negative total shareholder returns over the past one, three, five and ten years" and said his appointment would be a "clear mandate for change".

Corvex did not immediately respond to request for comment.

As at 1530 GMT, Whitbread was trading 2% lower at 2,772p.

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