Avantor Responds To Activist Investor Engine Capital’s Letter: ‘Acting With Urgency To Strengthen Growth’

Avantor, Inc. (AVTR) on Monday reiterated its commitment to shareholders and said that it regularly reviews its strategic priorities towards growth after activist investor Engine Capital issued a letter pushing the company to sell itself or make other changes.

“We are acting with urgency to strengthen growth and profitability in both Laboratory Solutions and Bioscience Production,” the company said while adding that it looks forward to ongoing dialogues with shareholders, including Engine Capital.

“We are confident in our ability to accelerate execution of our value creation initiatives under the leadership of Emmanuel Ligner, who will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer on August 18, 2025,” it added.

The company also highlighted the Board’s efforts over the past one-and-a-half years, including overseeing the change to a new CEO and a focused capital allocation strategy to reduce leverage by about $1.5 billion over the time period.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Avantor fell from ‘bullish’ to ‘neutral’ over the past 24 hours, while message volume fell from ‘normal’ to ‘low’ levels. Shares of the company traded 7% higher at the time of writing.

Avantor is a biotechnology company headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania. On Monday, Engine Capital, a significant shareholder with about 3% stake, wrote a letter addressed to the company alleging that its Board is responsible for Avantor’s underperformance and has failed to adequately oversee the company’s operations, management, capital allocation, and succession planning.

Engine Capital also included recommendations for the board, including strengthening execution, instilling a culture of cost discipline, improving capital allocation, evaluating its portfolio, aligning executive compensation to shareholder value creation, and refreshing the board by replacing all current directors but one.  

“Alternatively, the Board could consider monetizing the company at its strategic value today, which we believe would result in a sale between $17 and $19 per share. Engine believes both paths are acceptable and we urge the Board to consider the best risk-adjusted outcome for shareholders,” the firm recommended.

AVTR stock is down by 42% this year and by about 50% over the past 12 months. 

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