Activist investor Trian trims P&G, Mondelez stakes

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Activist investment firm Trian Fund Management LP has trimmed its stake in two consumer staples companies, Procter & Gamble Co and snack foods company Mondelez International Inc, according to regulatory filings.

Trian, founded by Nelson Peltz, Ed Garden and Peter May, held 8.9 million shares in P&G at the end of the first quarter, down 9.6% from the 9.8 million shares it owned at the end of the fourth quarter, according to a regulatory filing.

Peltz joined the P&G board in 2018 after a bitter proxy contest.

The firm also cut its stake in Mondelez by 23% to hold 9.4 million shares.

The so-called 13F filings show what fund managers owned at the end of the first quarter and while they are backward-looking, they are closely watched for clues on trends and what stocks certain fund managers are favoring.

New York-based Trian is known for proposing operational fixes at its portfolio companies, often through white papers. The activist firm presents itself as a partner that can offer constructive advice rather than the corporate raider intent on breaking companies apart.

(Reporting by Megan Davies in New York and Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston; Editing by Matthew Lewis)