By Senad Karaahmetovic
Shares of Kohl's (NYSE:KSS) are up over 2% in pre-open Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported activist investor Macellum Advisors GP LLC is ramping up pressure on the department-store chain to make board changes.
It's either that or Kohl's management will face another proxy fight. The activist investor has a roughly 5% stake in Kohl's and is calling for the company to change at least three long-serving directors, including its chairman.
With Kohl's shares down about 50% YTD, the activist investor is seeking changes to help recover the embattled stock. Macellum reportedly informed Kohl's that it will set up another proxy fight in 2023 if a certain compromise is not reached by then.
"We believe there is an urgent need for change now, rather than waiting another eight months for another contested election at the 2023 annual meeting," Macellum Chief Executive Jonathan Duskin wrote in a draft of an open letter to be sent to Kohl's shareholders, according to the WSJ.
Duskin also accused chairman Peter Boneparth to be "a root cause of the board's poor oversight and insular thinking."
Kohl's responded to the WSJ article by saying it is disappointed by the latest move from Duskin and his company.
"Kohl's board and management have regularly engaged with Macellum during the last two years, including numerous occasions since the annual shareholders meeting and several times this quarter, to hear their perspective," the company said in a statement.
"These engagements have been unproductive and a distraction from running the business during a challenging retail environment."