Clothing retailer The Wet Seal has engaged outside PR and proxy solicitation support as the company works to fend off a bid by Clinton Group to stack Wet Seal’s board.
RLM Finsbury is working the PR front for Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based TWS, which sells clothing and accessories for young women in 551 stores branded The Wet Seal and Arden B. RLM partner Steven Goldberg and senior VP Kate Foley are handling the account.
TWS has also hired proxy firm MacKenzie Partners.
New York-based Clinton Group, which owns seven percent of TWS’ shares, in late August said it would lobby TWS shareholders to replace four board members, arguing the existing directors have “failed shareholders.”
“After years of strategy shifts, personnel changes and financial and operational mismanagement, it is time for shareholders to put in place a Board that will work feverishly to fix the damage, repair the brand and earnestly consider the Company's strategic alternatives,” said CG’s Joseph DePerio. “More of the same is simply not an option.”
TSW on Sept. 24 released a letter from the company’s existing board sent to shareholders outlining reforms and support for themselves, adding that noting negotiations with CG failed because the investment firm would not compromise.
“We believe the current board, with the new additions and the additional candidates prepared to join in the near term is a stronger group than what Clinton has proposed and is better suited to lead the company as it returns to a fast fashion strategy,” said the letter from the board.
Clinton Group has engaged proxy firm Okapi Partners to aid its bid.