Frasers' Nominees for Boohoo Board to Address Governance
(Reuters) - Frasers, the largest shareholder in Boohoo, said on Thursday its two nominees for the board of the online fashion retailer would sign up to all protocols to address any governance concerns, if they were to be elected.
Frasers has sought board representation for Mike Ashley, who majority owns the British sportswear and fashion group, and restructuring specialist Mike Lennon.
In an open letter to Boohoo shareholders on Thursday, the company urged them to vote in favour of the duo's appointment to attain "the best and most credible path to profits".
Boohoo shareholders will vote on Dec. 20 on the resolutions put forth by Frasers, including the appointments.
Responding to the letter, a Boohoo spokesperson said, "Independent shareholders be warned. Desperate people do desperate things."
Earlier this week, Boohoo had asked shareholders to vote against all the resolutions at the general meeting.
Proxy advisory groups Glass Lewis and ISS have backed Boohoo's recommendation.
The open spat between the top two shareholders of Boohoo — Frasers and Mahmud Kamani — have made headlines in the British apparel retail space in recent months.
Ashley and Kamani have been competitors before, when Frasers failed to rescue department store chain Debenhams. Boohoo eventually bought the name and associated website operations from its administrators.
Separately, Frasers had sought Kamani's removal as a director from Boohoo's board. Last month, Kamani was moved from the chair role to the position of independent vice chairman.
Kamani owns about a 13% stake in Boohoo, while Frasers holds 28%.
Boohoo last month appointed Dan Finley as CEO, rebuffing Frasers' call to name Ashley in the role.
(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
