Gildan recently thanked long time CEO and original founder Glenn Charmondy, but they announced they were parting ways. They have installed Victor Tyra (a former Fruit of the Loom exec) as the new CEO, to begin his employment in February.

After Glenn Charmandy issued his own press release saying that he was forced out at Gildan, apparently Gildan took some heat from investors. One large investor Turtle Creek sent a letter saying, “We urge the board to reverse this inexplicable, ill-conceived and value destructive decision…”

The Gildan board now has taken the somewhat unusual step of issuing a statement about why they ousted Charmandy. Apparently there was a succession plan for Charmandy to exit in a couple of years. However, the board  felt he was not going to abide by this plan.  They say this was  particularly evident in his wanting Gildan to make a major acquisition (rumors of this being the Ink Kitchen are not true…) and then stay on to see that acquisition through. This purchase the Board felt was out of line in that it strayed from the core Gildan manufacturing business and they wanted  Gildan to go in a different direction.

You can read the Gildan press release here,  an open letter to stockholders. 

This is in reaction to what has been reported in the Financial Post, “Eight investment firms have rallied to Chamandy’s side in a public way, with some heaping scorn on the appointment of Tyra and calling for Chair Donald Berg to step down. Collectively, those firms hold more than 30 per cent of the outstanding shares.

One of them, Los Angeles-based Browning West, LP, said Wednesday it has upped its Gildan stake to 4.8 per cent and repeated that it’s prepared to trigger a shareholder meeting to change the board “if it continues to ignore shareholder feedback.” Less than a week ago, Browning said it owned 3.9 per cent.” This all happening while Gildan has lost about 11% of its stock value since the announcement.

Stay tuned as the outcome of all this is unknown as is the effect all this falderol may have on Gildan now and in the future.