Children’s Place urges approval of its board nominees

Secaucus, N.J. The Children's Place on Monday urged shareholders to approve its three incumbent board nominees and reject what it called the “hand-picked” alternates proposed by former CEO Ezra Dabah.

The company has nominated Sally Frame Kasaks, Malcolm Elvey and Norman Matthews for re-election. The retailer noted that Dabah and his father-in-law, Stanley Silverstein, are already on the board.

Children’s Place interim CEO and board member Charles Crovitz stated in a letter to shareholders: “Since Mr. Dabah's resignation, the company has performed very well operationally and financially despite a recessionary economy and negative industry trends. The company's success since Mr. Dabah resigned is a direct result of actions taken by the Board and management to achieve measured growth, increase profitability and enhance liquidity.”

Last week, Dabah wrote to shareholders to press for the approval of his nominees: Raphael Benaroya, Jeremy J. Fingerman and Ross B. Glickman. Dabah leads an activist investor group, which said it owns 22% of the company's shares.

Dabah left the company in 2007 after the company's auditor, Deloitte & Touche, said it would no longer trust what he said. Because of this, he left to "facilitate the completion of audits and avoid further delay in completing the company's SEC filings," Dabah wrote in his letter last week.

The annual shareholder meeting is scheduled for July 31.