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Garden believes the company behind Moen faucets and Master Lock could grow much larger over the next decade

Investor Ed Garden has built a stake in building-products supplier Fortune Brands FBIN 0.89%increase; green up pointing triangle Innovations, the maker of Moen faucets and Master Lock padlocks, and is seeking to replace the incoming chief executive along with other changes, according to people familiar with the matter.

Garden Investments is now among the top shareholders in Fortune Brands and aims to become the company’s largest shareholder over time, the people said. The exact size of the firm’s stake couldn’t be learned.

Garden has privately nominated a slate of director candidates ahead of Fortune Brands’ next annual shareholder meeting, a representative for Garden Investments confirmed. The company has a staggered board, meaning only a certain number of directors come up for election each year, in this case three.

Fortune Brands is best known for its home- and building-products brands including Moen, House of Rohl kitchen and bath fixtures, SentrySafe waterproof safes and others.

The company has a market value of around $6.5 billion, after its shares fell nearly 30% over the past five years. Its biggest rival Masco, which makes Delta faucets, is up close to 40% over that time period.

Fortune Brands earlier this month announced that CEO Nicholas Fink was departing to pursue another leadership opportunity. That same day, it reported weak quarterly results, sending shares down 18%.

It said it would be replacing Fink with Amit Banati, an existing board member with a background in consumer products, effective in May. Banati has most recently been the chief financial officer of Kenvue, the Tylenol and Listerine maker being sold to Kimberly-Clark.

Garden is concerned Fortune Brands is rushing into a mistake with its leadership after announcing Banati just one day after Fink informed the company that he was leaving. Garden saw Fink—who was tapped as CEO about six years ago—as lacking leadership and industry experience, according to the people familiar with the matter. He views tapping Banati as making the same mistake, the people said.

Garden sees an opportunity to build Fortune Brands over the next decade both organically and through mergers and acquisitions, once better corporate governance is in place, the people said. The firm isn’t pushing for any separation of the business, but wants to run a fresh CEO succession process, they added.

A spokesperson for Fortune Brands confirmed it had receievd Garden’s nominees and said the company’s board was engaging constructively with Garden.

“Fortune Brands remains focused on taking proactive actions in response to a challenging market environment, including enhancing profitability and continuing to invest in the innovations and capabilities that support sustainable, long-term shareholder value,” the spokesperson said.

Garden Investments was started by Garden as a family office roughly two years ago, after he departed Trian Fund Management, another activist firm he helped start alongside Nelson Peltz.

Last year, Garden took a stake in kitchen-equipment maker Middleby and pushed for changes before he joined the board. Billionaire investor Josh Harris’s firm, 26North Partners, struck a deal late last year to take a controlling stake in Middleby’s kitchen-products division, which owns brands like Viking and Rangemaster.

While he was at Trian, Garden took a board seat at the once sprawling conglomerate General Electric and helped recruit new leadership. After the company broke into three, Garden maintains a board seat at GE Aerospace.

The building products industry in the U.S. has been under pressure with existing home sales at multidecade lows. The Trump administration has been pushing for new-home construction, in an attempt to increase supply and lower home prices.

Companies like Home Depot, Lowe’s and QXO have looked to take advantage of an industry that has fallen out of favor by striking a series of big building-products deals in recent months. Garden Investments sees a chance for Fortune Brands to be able to seize on a similar opportunity, the people familiar with the matter said.