Activist Investors Nominating 10 New Kohl’s Board Members

Activist investor group Macellum Advisors GP LLC on Thursday (Feb. 10) named the 10 board members it will nominate at Kohl’s upcoming investor day March 7, led by Rutgers Law School educator and diversity consultant Stacy Hawkins and former Macy’s executive Jeffrey Kantor.

The slate of Macellum’s nominees to Kohl’s overhauled board of directors also includes Perry Mandarino, co-head of investment banking at B. Riley Securities Inc., according to a MarketWatch report.

Macellum Managing Partner Jonathan Duskin, another board nominee, cited Kohl’s ongoing “underperformance” in a letter to Kohl’s executives with the full slate of candidates. He also questioned the recent trip to Seattle by Kohl’s board members, wondering if they were visiting Amazon’s global headquarters during that cross-country jaunt.

“With reports now swirling about the Company’s jet recently flying to Seattle, Washington, where Amazon is headquartered, we hope the incumbents are not losing sight of their fiduciary duties,” Duskin wrote in his letter.

“We need to question whether the Board is fully cognizant of its obligations given it has yet to announce the Company will run an open, fair and fulsome process to evaluate all potential offers that could maximize value for shareholders,” he wrote.

Kohl’s has thus far rejected all the buyout offers it has received, the report says, while company executives maintain the company is turning around — and its stock bears that out, as it’s jumped 24% in the past year.

Kohl’s is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter earnings on March 1.

Related: Kohl’s Urged to Sell Company or Spin off eCommerce Business

In December, New York-based hedge fund Engine Capital urged Kohl’s to either sell itself outright or consider a spin-off of its eCommerce division in a bid to boost its stock price. Engine owns about 1% of the $7.3 billion retailer.

Kohl’s online sales revenue, projected at about $6.2 billion, would value its digital business at $12.4 billion. Engine said there would likely be private equity firms willing to pay around $75 a share, citing interactions with buyers that persuaded it that Kohl’s real estate could be monetized.