Macellum Advisors Urge Kohl’s Shareholders to Shake Up Board of Directors

Two days before Kohl’s shareholders will vote for the retail chain’s next board of directors, the managing partner of activist investor Macellum Advisors urged voters to choose its nominees and shake up the status quo for a company Macellum believes is falling short of its potential.

In a letter Monday (May 9), Jonathan Duskin urged his fellow shareholders to “elect its aligned and experienced candidates” during the annual meeting Wednesday (May 11). That vote follows last year’s addition of Macellum-backed candidates Thomas Kingsbury and Margaret Jenkins to Kohl’s board, which expanded to 13 members.

Last week, Kohl’s proxy advisory firm asked shareholders to retain the current board of directors.

Read more: Kohl’s Advisory Firm Urges Shareholders to Keep Current Board of Directors

“We believe shareholders would be best served supporting the current board and its efforts to enhance shareholder value, whether that takes the form of continued oversight of the existing standalone strategy or seeing through the ongoing sale process,” Glass Lewis wrote in its recommendation, per a release.

Kohl’s has also been fielding offers to sell some or all of its business from, among others, JCPenney owners Simon Property and Brookfield Asset Management.

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Whether Kohl’s will ultimately get bought out by some entity or succeed at convincing shareholders to leave the existing management team and restructuring plan in place is anybody’s guess at this point, but the $8 billion purported price tag just keeps creeping up.

Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass told analysts on the company’s Q4 earnings call last month that the retailer’s existing strategic and financial plan would deliver substantial value.

Kohl’s is also “testing and measuring that plan against other alternatives,” she said, in case its efforts for an omnichannel turnaround fail, before pointing to the retailer’s hiring of Goldman Sachs to “engage with interested parties.”