Bunzl, the unglamorous distributor of disposable cups and catering supplies, faces pressure from Elliott Management to overhaul its strategy. The £10.6bn FTSE 100 company halted share buybacks last year amid poor performance, prompting the activist to propose purchasing up to 10% of its stock. But this approach would saddle Bunzl with £800mn in additional debt, pushing leverage to roughly three times EBITDA.

Elliott also wants Bunzl to spin off its North American business, which generates over half of sales and £430mn in operating profit. Valued at 16 times earnings like US peers, that division could fetch nearly £7bn. Yet separating it would eliminate global sourcing advantages that make the mundane business model work.

Bunzl has raised dividends for 33 consecutive years while spending more than £6bn on 250 acquisitions over two decades. Before last year's slump, it consistently outperformed the FTSE 100's 6% annual return. Elliott and other activists see opportunity in dull UK stocks, as evidenced by EQT's purchase of Intertek and Whitbread's property sales under Corvex pressure.

Nevertheless, forcing Bunzl into utility mode after one bad year would sacrifice its proven acquisition-driven growth strategy. The company creates value through steady consolidation, not financial engineering. Share buybacks might make sense if acquisition targets dry up, but decades of market-beating returns shouldn't be discarded lightly.