Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU) is clearing the path for the founder of the Vancouver-based yogawear-maker to sell his remaining stake in the company.
Documents filed June 11 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would allow Chip Wilson, his wife Shannon Wilson and two entities the founder controls to sell off 20.1 million shares in the company.
“The prospectus supplement filed by Lululemon simply enables Chip Wilson to sell his shares in the future, if he chooses to do so, on the same basis as any other stockholder,” a spokesman for Wilson said in an emailed statement to Business in Vancouver.
Lululemon’s stock was down 2.18% and trading at US$65.31 after the SEC documents were filed Thursday morning.
Selling the remainder of the stock at that price would provide the Wilsons with about US$1.3 billion.
“We will not speculate as to the reasons Mr. Wilson requested that we register the resale of these shares, and it is his decision as to if and when he actually sells these shares,” a Lululemon spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.
Before resigning from the board in February, Wilson spent the past few years embroiled in a battle with Lululemon’s other board members.
A year ago, he urged Lululemon’s shareholders to vote against the re-election of two board members he said were not aligned with the company’s core values.
Wilson then agreed in August 2014 to sell half his remaining stake in the company to Advent International for US$845 million.
Before that, he resigned as board chairman in December 2013 after making disparaging remarks about some women’s bodies when yoga pants were recalled for sheerness issues.
Most recently, Wilson has been funding son JJ Wilson’s streetwear company, Kit and Ace.
The company, co-founded by Shannon Wilson, is expected to open 30 stores in North America by the end of 2015 and expand to Tokyo, London and Australia.
Representatives from Lululemon did not respond immediately to requests for an interview.
