Two non-executive directors at French Connections will step down due to pressure from activist investors, according to reports.
The Telegraph reported that chief executive and chairman Stephen Marks was now on the hunt for new board directors after Dean Murray and Claire Kent stepped down last week in response to demands from American fund Gatemore and OTK Holding and Zoar Invest.
In a joint letter to Marks, the investors – which have a 15 per cent stake in French Connection – said Murray and Kent oversaw a “tremendous decline in value of the company”.
According to City AM, Marks wrote to back to indicate that the two will soon step down.
READ MORE: Could French Connection finally be sold?
Gatemore managing parter Liad Meidar told The Telegraph that the letter was “thin in terms of content” and that Murray and Kent were “complicit in presiding over the company’s tremendous decline in value”.
The three investors have also urged Marks to split his dual role of chairman and chief executive.
He founded the company in 1972 and owns a 42 per cent of French Connection.
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