Wet Seal Proxy-Fight Update
The proxy battle at TheWet Seal Inc. flared upagain, on Oct. 1, when the Foothill Ranch, Calif.–based retailer releasedanother letter to its shareholders urging they reject a New York–basedfinancial group's move to oust nearly all of Wet Seal’s five-member board.
In the Oct. 1letter, the current Wet Seal board accused the Clinton Group hedge fund of “day trading” Wet Sealstock from Sept. 21 to 28. The Clinton Group owns 7 percent of Wet Sealstock.
“[Clinton Group] sold 127,000 Wet Sealshares at an average price of $3.22 and bought back only 33,000 shares at anaverage price of $3.12,” the board’s letter to shareholders stated. “To tradelike this during a consent solicitation process in which you are advocating for‘long-term’ change is strange behavior to say the least, and it shows ClintonGroup’s true colors as short-term investors with no long-term commitment to WetSeal or its shareholders.”—Andrew Asch
More about WetSeal’s ongoingproxy fight can be found here.
