Sept. 30--Baxter International Inc., the Deerfield-based maker of hospital supplies whose stock has slipped 16 percent in the past year, has agreed to give a board seat to a representative of its largest shareholder.
The move comes after billionaire hedge fund boss Dan Loeb took a 7 percent stake in Baxter in August, and declared he wanted two board seats and a say over picking the company's next chief executive.
Baxter said Wednesday that it has expanded the board by two seats to 12 and appointed Munib Islam, a partner at Loeb's Third Point hedge fund, to a seat. The second director position will be filled by a "mutually agreed" outsider in the near future; a date wasn't provided.
Islam will join Baxter's audit committee and will be part of its CEO search group. Bob Parkinson, Baxter's CEO, told analysts in July that he had hired a search firm to help find his successor. He has led the company since 2004.
Baxter has been trying to shore up revenue since it spun off its biosciences division July 1 into a separate publicly traded company, Baxalta. For the three months ended June 30, Baxter reported that revenue fell 6 percent to $3.9 billion.
One of the largest life-sciences companies in Illinois, Baxter makes a broad portfolio of renal and hospital products, including sterile IV solutions, anesthetics and dialysis products.
The company has had a challenging year, with regulatory and manufacturing issues, costs related to the spinoff and generic competition for its branded oncology drug cyclophosphamide. For the second half of 2015, management has forecast a 9 percent decline in revenue and a 9 percent adjusted operating profit margin, considerably lower than some of its peers.
Baxter shares closed at $32.85, up 16 cents, on Wednesday.
jrussell@tribpub.com
