Browning West asks Canadian activewear Gildan's shareholders for special meeting
Dec 29 (Reuters) - U.S.-based activist fund Browning West said on Friday it had asked Gildan Activewear's shareholders for a special meeting to reconstitute the Canadian apparel maker's board.
Browning West, which owns 5% of Gildan's outstanding shares, said in a letter it wanted to remove five incumbent directors from Gildan's board and replace them with its own candidates, including former CEO of equipment rental firm United Rentals and former CFO of discount store operator Dollarama .
Glenn Chamandy was removed as Gildan's CEO earlier this month. The board asked Chamandy to leave the company he co-founded, without giving a specific reason.
Browning West said it wanted to bring back Chamandy as Gildan's CEO and terminate the appointment of new Chief Executive Vincent Tyra.
Gildan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last week, Gildan backed its decision to remove Chamandy from the CEO role, after some big shareholders, including Browning West and Oakcliff Capital called for his return.
"Board has ignored the independent feedback of nine separate investors who collectively hold more than 35% of Gildan's outstanding shares," Browning West said in the letter on Friday.
The activist fund previously sent a letter to Gildan's board on Dec. 20 saying it was prepared to reconstitute the board through a special shareholders meeting if the company continued to ignore shareholder feedback. (Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
