Wendy’s International Inc. (NYSE: WEN) directors may have to fight for their jobs after Nelson Peltz moves forward with his plans to overtake the company. The activist investor demanded that the board expand in size to 15 directors and plans to nominate six of his own if it is adopted. Otherwise, the 9.8 percent owner says that he plans to nominate four to the board at the next annual meeting - giving him a majority vote. Shareholders are hoping that the activist investor will finally take action to unlock value in the company that has seen its shares drop amid internal problems and economic gloom.

Nelson Peltz’s Triac Companies made a bid for Wendy’s last November, but fell short of an expected $37 to $41 bid and was rejected. Since then, Wendy’s has been evaluating its strategic options and plans to finalize its evaluation very soon. However, the board noted that it wouldn’t exercise discretionary authority to vote on any shareholder proposal received by February 11th. The sudden deadline clearly presented a problem for Peltz’s Trian fund as it now had to rush to propose its new plans. The April 24th annual meeting should shore up to be an interesting one with these new nominations and the results of the strategic options evaluation.

Wendy’s shares have been beaten off of their $42 highs to their current levels of around $23 per share. The downward spiral came as a result of failed M&A talk surrounding the stock combined this the recent economic downturn that has many believing that discretionary consumer spending could slow and hurt fast food chains. The nation’s third largest burger chain recently announced strong fourth quarter earnings that quadrupled from a year ago, but it fell just short of Wall Street expectations. Many believe that Wendy’s will continue to show strong results stemming from recent marketing campaigns and an impressive turnaround.

In the end, shareholders are looking forward to the April 24th annual meeting that should either put the company up for sale or show unlock shareholder value through other means. Peltz’s actions only further encourage the company to take some action or risk being taken over and sold off at any price. After spending $6.5 million studying options for the company, hopefully shareholders will be better off. Combined, these factors make WEN a stock worth watching closely over the next few months!

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