A serious investor in Victoria's Secret urged the flailing lingerie maker in a letter Tuesday to shake up its board – attacking the present chair as “over-tenured” with a “stale perspective.”
BBRC Worldwide – which owns an almost 13% stake in Victoria's Secret, making it the second-largest shareholder – is looking for longtime Chair Donna James to be fired and asking for a board seat for its founder, Australian billionaire Brett Blundy.
The personal fairness agency began constructing its stake in 2022 and has been privately pushing for adjustments since final yr, in keeping with the letter despatched Tuesday to members of the board.
“Absent the board re-evaluating its posture and demonstrating a real willingness to interact in good religion, BBRC intends to exchange administrators at subsequent yr's annual assembly of stockholders – if not sooner,” Blundy wrote within the letter.
“By any measure, she [James] is an ‘over-tenured' director with a ‘stale perspective' that lacks objectivity concerning the corporate's operations,” he added.
Victoria's Secret didn't instantly reply to The Put up's request for remark.
The corporate's earlier proprietor, L Manufacturers, modified its identify to Bathtub & Physique Works in 2021 and spun off Victoria's Secret.
Since then, Victoria's Secret has seen its inventory plunge about 15% and its market capitalization sink beneath $3 billion.
Its rebrand away from attractive bras to cozy choices failed with clients, and it has struggled to maintain up with intense competitors from rivals like Rihanna's Savage X Fenty and Kim Kardashian's Skims.
Earlier this yr, it additionally suffered a three-day web site outage attributable to a cyberattack.
In June, activist investor Barington Capital Group introduced it had constructed up a stake within the firm and was pushing for a board shake-up.
However Tuesday's letter is a primary for Blundy's agency, which has by no means earlier than led an activist marketing campaign.
Shares within the firm dipped 0.4% Tuesday.
BBRC has $3 billion invested in retailers worldwide, recognized for working with manufacturers like high-end lingerie maker Honey Birdette and Australian ladies's clothes label DISSH.
Victoria's Secret has accused BBRC of increase its stake within the firm with out making the right antitrust filings.
It adopted a shareholder-rights plan earlier this yr in an effort to dam any takeover try.
In the meantime, Hillary Tremendous joined Victoria's Secret as its new CEO final fall after briefly main Savage X Fenty and Anthropologie, which has the identical mum or dad firm as City Outfitters.
Tremendous has been targeted on revamping the notoriously skimpy Victoria's Secret vogue reveals and including new merchandise to carry attractive again to the model, like double-push up bras and a brand new underwire bra coated in material to make it extra snug.
Her predecessor, Martin Waters, had tamed down the model's intercourse enchantment in 2019 amid requires physique range and positivity.
He canceled the style present and launched new merchandise that prioritized consolation, like bralettes – which initially boosted gross sales, however in the end stalled out.
“Selections had been made out of concern,” Tremendous told the Wall Street Journal final month, calling the transfer a mistake.
James, the corporate's chair, beforehand served as a board member for L Manufacturers for almost 20 years.
