Lew demands vote to appoint former Myer Grace Bros boss Terrence McCartney to the board

Billionaire Solomon Lew has stepped up his pursuit of Myer by demanding his pick, the former boss of Myer Grace Bros, be appointed to the board.

The next Myer annual general meeting is likely to be another public battle. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Solomon Lew has fired the latest salvo in his five-year campaign to grab board control of Myer, using his recently increased stake in the company to demand the appointment of ex-Myer Grace Bros boss Terence McCartney as director.

The billionaire retailer – whose Premier Investments vehicle is the department store’s largest shareholder with a stake of just under 23 per cent – has tried repeatedly to get a number of candidates, including Mr McCartney – onto the Myer board in recent years.

Mr Lew is seeking a motion at the Myer annual meeting to place Mr McCartney, a non-executive director of Premier Investments, on the company’s board.

In a statement to the ASX on Thursday, the company said that it had received a notice of intention, to move a resolution for appointment of a director at its upcoming annual meeting from a company called Metalgrove.

The sole shareholder of Metalgrove is understood to be Premier Investments, Myer said.

Earlier this month Premier Investments, the $3.4bn fashion and clothing conglomerate controlled by Mr Lew, revealed it was the buyer of 24.5 million Myer shares that were sold for an average of 50c per share. That took its stake to 22.87 per cent.

Previously, Premier Investments was sitting on 19.88 per cent of Myer, having first bought a small stake in the department store owner in 2017, and since then has steadily built up its holding.

Myer said on Thursday more information about the proposed resolution to appoint Mr McCartney as a director will be included in the notice of meeting, which will be issued by the company to shareholders prior to the AGM.

It isn’t the first time Mr Lew has tried to shoehorn Mr McCartney onto the Myer board.

In late 2017 as Mr Lew ramped up his assault on the Myer board, nominating three directors – Mr McCartney, former investment banker and Premier Investments director Tim Antonie – who is now chairman of kitchen appliances company Breville – and property executive Stephen Sewell.

At the time, Mr McCartney and Mr Antonie were also directors of Premier Investments.

A spokeswoman for Mr Lew was unavailable for comment on Thursday. It is unclear why Mr Lew has chosen to only seek a board nomination for Mr McCartney at this time and not included the other previous candidates, Mr Antonie and Mr Sewell.

Myer CEO John King is trying to improve the retailer’s fortunes as the Myer board faces a new boardroom push from major shareholder Solomon Lew who has been stalking the company for five years. Picture: Stefan Postles

It is believed by some insiders that it will be increasingly difficult to get Mr Antonie on to the Myer board given his current role as chairman of Breville, with Breville a key supplier of its kitchen appliances to Myer as well as its retail rivals. The relationships are especially tangled given Premier Investments and Mr Lew privately are also large shareholders in Breville. Combined, Premier Investments and Mr Lew’s private interests control 31.96 per cent of the company.

In 2017, when the Myer board was first facing off against Mr Lew, it was advised by external legal counsel that the conflicts of interest that plagued Mr Lew’s public company and family-owned businesses were so broad that it would be difficult for him to have his nominees on the Myer board.

Mr Lew is a large supplier to Myer through family-owned, private businesses.

The lawyers told Myer it could object to Mr Lew and Premier demanding board seats even though he was a major shareholder – but it is unclear if that argument will be strong enough now to fend off Mr Lew in his current push.

In 2021 when Premier Investments moved to 15.77 per cent of Myer, then acting Myer chair JoAnne Stephenson extended an olive branch, offering board representation, following years of bitter conflict with the billionaire.

In July, Myer said it expected annual net profit to come in between $55m and $60m, an increase of between 86 per cent and 103 per cent from last year.

The forecast is against last year’s figures, excluding the JobKeeper payments it received.

At the time, Myer said its second half profit for the 26 weeks to July 30 would be between $23m and $28m, up between 160 per cent and 217 per cent from $8.8m over the 27 weeks to July 31, 2021.