Sagard Capital Partners L.P. terminated its shareholder nomination agreement with Performance Sports Group Ltd., saying it’s unlikely the maker of team sports gear will hold its annual meeting by an Oct. 31 deadline.
The investment firm also wants to terminate the standstill provisions that are part of the agreement. Sagard Capital holds 7.72 million shares, or a 16.9 percent stake, in Performance Sports Group (NYSE:PSG), which owns the Bauer and Mission hockey, Maverik and Cascade lacrosse, Combat and Easton baseball and Inaria team apparel brands.
Sagard Chairman Paul Desmarais III Desmarais was scheduled to join PSG’s board of directors on or around Aug. 9 as Sagard Capital’s nominee. But in mid-August, Sagard indicated he would not join the board until Performance Sports completes an internal investigation of its financials and submits audited statements with securities regulators.
Performance Sports is under investigation by the SEC after it delayed the filing of its audited annual financial statements. It has also received “inquiries” from Canadian regulators.
Given termination of its shareholder nomination agreement and Performance Sports’ announcement last week that it had retained Centerview Partners LLC to assist in reviewing strategic alternatives, Sagard “may consider, discuss and/or propose or adopt various plans or proposals related to possible strategic alternatives regarding the Issuer and its subsidiaries.”
