Charming Shoppes Inc announced that Glass Lewis & Co has recommended that shareholders reject Arnaud Ajdler and Robert Frankfurt, the two hedge fund director candidates nominated by the Crescendo Partners and Myca Partners hedge funds, for election to Charming Shoppes' Board of Directors at the Company's 2008 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
Charming Shoppes issued the following statement: "We are pleased that Glass Lewis recommended that shareholders not support the dissident group's two hedge fund nominees, Ajdler and Frankfurt, neither of whom has any relevant retail or management experience.
"The principals of the Crescendo and Myca hedge funds as they have done at other publicly-traded companies are advocating a risky and imprudent short-term financial reengineering scheme at Charming Shoppes with the goal of leveraging up the Company and buying back stock.
These hedge funds have still not advocated any new ideas to navigate the Company through the current economic environment or create long-term shareholder value.
"We believe, however, that Glass Lewis missed the mark with respect to the dissident group's third nominee, Michael Appel.
We think Glass Lewis is simply wrong to equate the qualifications of Appel with those of Charming Shoppes' directors. Appel's retail experience has been primarily limited to small companies in restructuring or Chapter 11.
Furthermore, Appel has no experience as a senior executive of a public company and no Board experience.