Ex-CEO of Children’s Place drops proxy fight

New York City The former chief executive of Children's Place Retail Stores, Ezra Dabah, abandoned his proxy fight two days before a stockholder vote, agreeing to sell half of his stake to the company.

Dabah ended a fight to place three dissident directors on the board of the chain. The company agreed to buy 2.45 million shares of his shares for $70.8 million. As part of the agreement, Dabah and his father-in-law, Stanley Silverstein, have agreed to resign from the Children’s Place board of directors, effective upon the sale of the shares, which is expected to occur on or about Aug.3.

Chuck Crovitz, a director and interim CEO, said, "We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with Mr. Dabah to buy back half of his shares, which will be accretive to earnings, and we believe is in the best interests of The Children's Place stockholders. The agreement will also allow the board to provide unified leadership going forward as we continue to execute on our balanced growth strategy to create long-term value for our stockholders."