Interested in buying Top 40 supplier Gildan (asi/56842)?

Get your bid in by April 10.

The board of directors of the multibillion-dollar, publicly traded manufacturer of apparel basics has reportedly set April 10 as the deadline for receiving initial offers from parties interested in acquiring the company.

Sources quoted by The Globe and Mail reported that the board wants bids in hand by then so it can analyze the offers in advance of Gildan’s planned May 28 annual shareholders meeting.

Interested bidders reportedly include private equity firm Sycamore Partners, which owns Staples, parent company of Top 40 distributor Staples Promotional Products (asi/120601). Sycamore specializes in consumer, distribution and retail-related investments, managing about $10 billion in aggregate committed capital.

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, a private equity firm with a reported $57 billion in assets under management and owner of Top 40 supplier S&S Activewear (asi/84358), is also said to be interested. The Globe and Mail reported that Bain Capital, a Boston-headquartered private investment firm with a stated $180 billion in assets under management, is another Gildan suitor. Bain’s portfolio currently includes apparel companies such as Varsity Brands and Canada Goose.

Word on the potential sale comes amid a corporate fight playing out between Gildan’s board of directors on one side and co-founder/former CEO Glenn Chamandy and activist investors on the other.

It all kicked off after the board fired Chamandy in December and replaced him with Vince Tyra, an executive with a background that includes the apparel business, private equity, being director of intercollegiate athletics at the University of Louisville, and serving as CEO of Broder Bros., which has since evolved into Top 40 supplier alphabroder (asi/34063). (Bain formerly owned Broder Bros.)

Production Shift to Bangladesh in Board Candidates’ Plan to Up Gildan Earnings https://t.co/YtYtR90DFP

— Chris Ruvo (@ChrisR_ASI) April 1, 2024

The activist investors, led by Los Angeles-based investment firm Browning West, which holds about 5% of Gildan’s outstanding shares, have put forward a plan that calls for replacing eight current company board members with new directors, one of whom would be Chamandy.

A shareholder vote on the proposal could occur at the May 28 shareholders meeting. If there’s a vote and the Browning West-backed candidates win, they’re expected to reinstall Chamandy as CEO.

Earlier this week, the eight business leaders who are aiming to take seats on the board released a five-pillared plan that they say, if executed correctly, could increase Gildan’s share price to more than $100 within five years.

The board candidates would achieve that, in part, through initiatives that include taking on more debt to fund growth and increasing market share in the fashion-basics category by lowering unit costs. The plan says the fashion-basics gain can be achieved by relocating production of such products from Honduras to Bangladesh, where Gildan already has a factory.

Other proposed initiatives include capturing more market share in the growing fleece niche and establishing an “aspirational compensation plan tied to value creation” for Gildan’s approximately 43,000 employees.

Based on estimated 2022 North American promo product revenue of $762.2 million, Gildan ranked fifth on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest suppliers in the industry. In February, Gildan reported that total global full-year sales across all its business divisions – more than just promo – fell 1.4% year over year in 2023 to about $3.19 billion.