The Children's Place Retail Stores Inc. (NASDAQ:PLCE) founder Ezra Dabah filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission preliminary proxy to nominate three individuals to the board of directors at the company's 2009 annual meeting on June 26. Could this be a second run at control of the company?
Dabah's nominees are Raphael Benaroya, the chairman of giftware company Russ Berrie & Co. (NYSE:RUS), Jeremy J. Fingerman, a principal of brand consultancy Clairmont Ventures, and Ross B. Glickman, CEO of real estate firm Urban Retail Properties LLC. Dabah, the former chairman and CEO of the Children's Place with a 16.9% stake in the company, is the retailer's largest stockholder, and last year he attempted to purchase the company.
Moelis & Co. is providing Dabah financial advice, and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP is serving as his legal counsel.
Although Dabah remains on Children's Places' board, since 2007 he has had a rocky relationship with his old company. He stepped down in 2007 as CEO amid charges he had not complied with the company's securities trading policies. Following his removal, the company retained Lehman Brothers Inc. to review its strategic options. Amid the strategic review, Dabah offered in February 2008 to buy the company. Initially the board responded by saying it would wait for the results of the review, but then shareholders filed suit, alleging Dabah's $24 per share offer was unfair and "timed to take advantage of a temporarily depressed market price of the company's stock." The suit didn't stop Dabah's efforts to take control of the company. Instead, Dabah sought funding from private equity firm Golden Gate Capital to try to formulate a new bid for the Children's Place. In the end, Children's Place completed its review in February without a sale.
However, if Dabah is going to make a run at his old company again, he'll need more capital than before as its shares have more than doubled from a 52-week low of $16.45 to close Friday at $32.31, giving the company a $1 billion market cap. - Matthew Wurtzel
See Dabah's announcement from PR Newswire
See Dabah's filings from the SEC Edgar
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