Icahn to Get 3 Additional Seats on Herbalife Board

Herbalife’s biggest defender is getting a bigger presence on the board.

The besieged health supplements company said on Monday that it had  renegotiated its agreement with Carl C. Icahn, allowing its biggest shareholder three additional seats on the board, which would bring his representation to five seats.

Herbalife will nominate Hunter C. Gary, Jesse A. Lynn and James L. Nelson, for election to its 13-member board at its annual meeting in Los Angeles on April 29. Mr. Gary and Mr. Lynn are employees of Icahn Enterprises, while Mr. Nelson is an independent director of Icahn Enterprises.

“This is a very positive agreement and we appreciate the Icahn Parties’ shared confidence in Herbalife’s continued success,” said Michael O. Johnson, chairman and chief executive of Herbalife. “The current Icahn representatives have brought considerable insight and experience to our board and we look forward to working with the additional representatives in a similarly collaborative way.”

Mr. Icahn, who controls a 16.8 percent stake in Herbalife, currently has two representatives on the board, Jonathan Christodoro and Keith Cozza.

“We remain resolute in our commitment to the long-term success of Herbalife,” Mr. Icahn said .

With Herbalife, the activist investor is taking on a major rival, William A. Ackman, who has made a $1 billion against the company, declaring that it a pyramid scheme and arguing that it is in risk of being shut down by federal regulators. Mr. Icahn has previously dismissed Mr. Ackman’s arguments, telling Bloomberg, “in my opinion, many of the things Ackman says about it are simply the rantings of a sore loser.”

Yet Mr. Ackman’s crusade appeared to gain momentum on March 12, when it was disclosed that the Federal Trade Commission had opened an official inquiry into Herbalife. Since then, its shares have fallen 24 percent.