Kohl’s Shareholders Vote to Keep Current Slate of Directors

Even though activist pressure is on retail department store chain Kohl’s, the company’s shareholders voted this week to keep the current slate of directors.

At the annual meeting of Kohl’s shareholders on Wednesday, the shareholders voted to reelect the company’s current slate of 13 board directors despite activist Macellum Advisors pressuring for an overhaul.

Ahead the vote, the major proxy advisory firms were split in their recommendations.

“We aren’t going away,” Macellum’s CEO Jonathan Duskin said. According to Macellum, Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass hasn’t made enough efforts, despite teaming up with Sephora and partnering with Amazon on a returns program.

“I think the vote was a referendum on a sale, and people who voted for the company bought the narrative that any changes of the board in the middle of this process had run the risk of disrupting the process,” Duskin told CNBC.

“The vote for the company was a vote for a sale of a business,” he said. “We aren’t going away.”

It was in February that Macellum nominated 10 directors, including its chief executive officer, Jonathan Duskin. The activist has also been pushing for Kohl’s to sell itself and to offload some of its real estate and lease it back to tap into additional capital.

Kohl’s is still in the process of considering bids for its business.

In March the company confirmed that it had received multiple preliminary buyout offers after rejecting a bid from Starboard-backed Acacia Research, at $64 per share, that was deemed to be too low.

Kohl’s shares closed Tuesday at $49.39, compared with a 52-week high of $64.80.

Kohl’s board “remains focused on running a robust and intentional review of strategic alternatives,” said Chairman Peter Boneparth.

“While we have had differences with Macellum, this board is committed to serving the interests of all our shareholders,” he said.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.