Orange Capital, Land & Buildings File Proxy Statement Against Macerich

Macerich’s foes on Wednesday played another card in their dispute with the Santa Monica-based shopping center owner and developer. Shareholders Orange Capital and Land & Buildings have been vocal in their objection to Macerich’s decision last month to reject Simon Property Group’s offer to acquire the mall owner for $16.8 billion, or $95.50 a share. After threatening legal action to get their candidates elected to the Macerich board, Orange Capital and Land & Buildings filed a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, proposing that shareholders elect their slate of four director nominees, Marc Gordon, Gregory Hughes, Jonathan Litt and Jeremy Pemberton to serve as Class I directors and hold office until the annual meeting of stockholders in 2018. “We do not believe that the current board of directors of [Macerich] has pursued a strategic course that would maximize the potential value of Macerich,” the activist shareholders said. The proxy statement also asks shareholders to vote against Macerich’s advisory resolution on the compensation of its executive officers. Last week, Orange Capital and Land & Buildings said that they had formed an investment group to advocate for change at Macerich. Orange/L&B, the entity, claimed that Macerich tried to block the nominations of two of its

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Hudson’s Bay Updates Queen Street Store Men’s Dept.

NEW YORK — Men’s wear is on the front burner for Hudson’s Bay Co. this spring. The Canadian retailer recently completed a massive overhaul of the men’s department at the Queen Street flagship in Toronto that highlights the company’s range of price points in a new clean, elevated atmosphere. “Men’s has been on a solid growth trajectory for a while,” said Liz Rodbell, president of the Hudson’s Bay Co. Department Store Group. “We’re well penetrated, but we believe men’s still has tremendous growth potential.” Footwear and contemporary sportswear are among the most promising categories, she said, and thus got a big boost during the Queen Street renovation. The renovation is part of what Wayne Drummond, group senior vice president of apparel for Hudson’s Bay and Lord & Taylor, said is a “huge investment” the company is making in men’s wear. One reason, according to MaryAnne Morin, chief merchant officer of Hudson’s Bay Co., is that: “Men’s is growing at a faster rate than ladies’.” The company declined to provide a percentage of business that men’s represents, but said it is “higher than the industry standard,” which is generally around 17 percent of overall sales. Drummond said that prior to the renovation, men’s had been split

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Report: Gap Brand Faces Uphill Climb

Gap Inc.’s new management might find the task of turning around its namesake brand more formidable than it expected. Art Peck, who succeeded Glenn Murphy as chief executive officer of the company in February, and Jeff Kirwan, who took the reins of the Gap brand from Stephen Sunnucks in December, will have a “daunting” challenge on their hands in steering the Gap brand back to growth after what has essentially been a lost decade, according to a research note from Wells Fargo Securities analyst Paul Lejuez. “While those that look back only a few years might conclude this is a brand that lost its way in 2014 after a strong 2012-13, a look back over 10 years shows this is a brand that has been losing market share and mindshare over a much longer period. Against that backdrop, it may not seem as easy to fix,” Lejuez wrote. Gap’s square footage in North America shrank 20 percent and its store count fell 30 percent between 2005 and 2014, and that contributed to a drop in sales to $4 billion from $5.4 billion. But it wasn’t a reduction in store count that sent sales down — comparable sales at Gap fell in all but

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