06:47 AM EDT, 04/22/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Gildan Activewear ( GIL ) was at last look up 2% in US premarket on Monday after it announced board changes in support of Chief Executive Vince Tyra and pushed ahead with plans that might result in the company selling itself.

Monday's announcement is an attempt to appease shareholder groups, including U.S. investment firm Browning West, that wanted wholesale board changes at Gildan. The groups submitted their own slate of directors and were looking for former CEO Glenn Chamandy to be reinstated in his prior role.

The company, which said it will hold an investor day in the fall to provide a "comprehensive strategic plan," recently reaffirmed its 2024 full year guidance and announced preliminary first-quarter revenue.

Gildan had set April 10 as the deadline for an initial takeover offer, but The Globe and Mail newspaper reported that Browning West, which has a roughly 5% stake in the company, was seeking a court order preventing the Gildan board from signing a binding deal to sell the clothing maker until shareholders voted on new directors.

The Globe and Mail said: "It's the latest in a series of legal volleys between Montreal-based Gildan and Browning West in what has become one of the most acrimonious corporate power struggles in recent years in Canada."

"There continues to be external interest in acquiring the company and the process is ongoing," Gildan said on Monday. "Due to the timing of the upcoming annual meeting, which the board is fully committed to hold on May 28, as originally planned, we do not expect to make any further announcements on the potential sale process before then. We are confident that with the stability resulting from the resolution of the contested directors' election issue at the annual meeting, the newly reconstituted board that we are recommending to our shareholders will, if elected, pursue their fiduciary duties by reviewing such external interest and assessing it against the company's future plans."

Tim Hodgson, Lee Bird, Jane Craighead, Lynn Loewen, and Les Viner were slated to be appointed to the board, effective May 1, 2024. Tim Hodgson will become Independent/Non-Executive Chair. The board recommended the election of Browning West nominees Karen Stuckey and J.P. Towner.

Directors Donald C. Berg, Maryse Bertrand, Shirley Cunningham, Charles Herington, and Craig Leavitt will depart the board while directors Luc Jobin and Chris Shackelton will not stand for re-election at the 2024 annual meeting.