Turtle Creek Asset Management Calls on the Board of Gildan Activewear to Immediately Re-Appoint Glenn J. Chamandy as its CEO
15 December 2023 - 9:00AM
Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. (“Turtle Creek”), a Canadian
independent investment management firm with a 25-year history and a
decade-long shareholder of Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL: TSX and
NYSE) (“Gildan” or the “Company”), today issued a letter to the
board of directors (the “Board”) of Gildan urging it to reverse its
termination of Glenn Chamandy and reappoint him as CEO of the
Company.
The full text of the letter to the Board
follows:
Dear Gildan directors,
As you are aware, for over 10 years, Turtle
Creek has been and remains an engaged, long-term shareholder of
Gildan. We regard Gildan as one of Canada’s great success stories.
Over the past 40 years, Gildan has grown from a small family-owned
business into a global apparel company with over US$3 billion in
sales. It has outcompeted and outlasted many other players in a
challenging and competitive industry. This success is due in large
part to the vision and leadership of its founder and long-time CEO,
Glenn Chamandy. Shareholders who were astute enough to purchase
shares at the time of Gildan’s IPO in 1998 have been handsomely
rewarded– Gildan’s share price has seen a 90-fold increase over the
last 25 years.
During our long participation as shareholders of
the Company, we have been impressed by Mr. Chamandy’s stewardship
of the business, his strategic vision, his extraordinary knowledge
of its competitive landscape, his extensive operational
capabilities, and his relationships with key stakeholders and
customers.
We were understandably dismayed by the Board’s
abrupt termination of Mr. Chamandy, which we believe exposes Gildan
to a significant loss of leadership, loss of institutional and
operational knowledge, damages employee morale and potentially
threatens key customer relationships.
Turtle Creek believes that succession planning
is an important duty of the Board and should be conducted through a
thoughtful and deliberate process, including through the engagement
of the Company’s existing leadership and its shareholders. In
contrast, the Board’s abrupt termination of Mr. Chamandy, appears
to have been conducted in great haste, without meaningful
shareholder engagement, and without considering the substantial
adverse impact on Gildan’s business.
Gildan is a uniquely successful company that
requires uniquely qualified and experienced leadership. We strongly
believe the board has made a grievous error in terminating Mr.
Chamandy. We urge the Board to reverse this inexplicable,
ill-conceived and value destructive decision and reappoint Mr.
Chamandy as CEO of the Company.
Sincerely,
Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc.
About Turtle Creek Asset Management
Inc.Turtle Creek is an independent investment management
firm with a 25-year history. We manage over $5 billion for a
clientele of high-net-worth families, institutions and wealth
advisors. Turtle Creek is not your typical value investor. We are
engaged shareholders focused on the long term. Turtle Creek is
where the partners and our senior employees have all of their
investable wealth. As a result, we are aligned with our fellow
investors to an extent that few other firms can match.
For further information, please visit:
https://www.turtlecreek.ca/
Contact:
Riyaz Lalani & Dan GagnierGagnier Communications(416)
305-1459TurtleCreek@gagnierfc.com
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