Customers visit the Macy’s Herald Square store on December 17, 2023 in New York City.
Kena Betancur | Corbis news | Getty Images
Investment firm Arkhouse Management has launched a proxy fight Macy’sand nominated a list of nine directors for election to the department store’s board of directors.
Nominees include former Brookfield executive Ric Clark; restructuring expert Mo Meghji; and Isaac Zion, who was formerly co-chief investment officer at SL Green.
Macy’s confirmed Tuesday that it had received notice of the nominations from Arkhouse, which made an unsolicited $21 per share offer for the company in December. Macy’s board rejected the $5.8 billion offer and questioned the status of Arkhouse’s financing.
In a statement Tuesday, Arkhouse managing partners Jonathon Blackwell and Gavriel Kahane said they had provided Macy’s board with additional details about the financing, saying it was backed by equity partners with more than $75 billion in total assets under management would.
“We urge the board to specifically provide any additional information they may require regarding our funding so that we can address their outstanding concerns,” Blackwell and Kahane said.
Kahane previously told CNBC that Arkhouse’s funding was secured, citing a “very confident” letter from Jefferies, but said Macy’s had not allowed for due diligence. Arkhouse had also indicated it would be willing to start a proxy fight at the retailer.
In its statement Tuesday, Macy’s reiterated that it had “undertaken a careful review” of Arkhouse’s tender offer, but that Arkhouse “has not yet provided any financing details that would improve the viability of its proposal.”
Macy’s has not yet set a date for its 2024 annual meeting. Under new rules adopted in 2023, shareholders will be able to select individual director candidates from both the activist and management lists at the meeting.
Arkhouse’s other nominees include Five Below director Richard Markee, investor Mitchell Shear, former Hudson Bay CEO Jerry Storch, former Victoria’s Secret CEO Sharen Turney, Nuveen’s impact investing chief, Nadir Settles, and retail manager Andrea Weiss.
“While we did not make this decision lightly, we did so to preserve our ability to protect the rights of all shareholders,” Blackwell and Kahane said.
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2024-02-20 19:39:38
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