(Reuters) -Activist investor Engine Capital has built a stake in Avantor and plans to push the life-sciences company to sell itself or make other changes, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Engine could reveal its roughly 3% stake in Avantor on Monday, the newspaper reported, adding that the activist investor thinks the entire company could sell for between $17 and $19 per share.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. Avantor and Engine Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
Avantor has a market value of $7.84 billion, and its shares have fallen by more than 45% this year to about $11.5, as of Friday’s close, according to LSEG data.
The company said in its first-quarter ear