ent, making BBRC the second-largest shareholder in a company Blundy had reportedly tried to buy outright before its 2021 spinoff from L Brands. A career built on intimates The move shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows Blundy’s career. One of Australia’s wealthiest men, with a fortune estimated at around $4 billion, he built his empire on the intimates sector. He founded Bras N Things in the 1980s and later sold it for $500 million. He backed Honey Birdette, the premium lingerie chain he sold to PLBY Group in 2021 for $443 million. Lingerie is not just a business interest for Blundy – it’s the axis around which his entire retail universe has turned. What changed in February 2024 was the signal. When BBRC amended its SEC filing from the passive Schedule 13G to the activist Schedule 13D, a form reserved for investors seeking to influence corporate strategy, the market took notice. Victoria’s Secret certainly did. The poison pill The company’s response was swift and defensive. In May 2025, the board adopted a shareholder rights plan – colloquially known as a poison pill – designed to prevent any single party from crossing the 15 per cent ownership threshold without board approval. The mechanism grants existing shareholders the right to buy additional stock at a 50 per cent discount if triggered, effectively freezing Blundy in place. “The board determined it was necessary to adopt a rights plan to protect the long-term interests of all Victoria’s Secret shareholders,” said chair Donna James. But the pill only sharpened Blundy’s focus. A competitor in plain sight Complicating the standoff was a move that made Victoria’s Secret’s board deeply uneasy: while quietly accumulating its stake, BBRC had been building Léays – a new global lingerie, sleepwear, and beauty brand staffed by veterans of Honey Birdette and Bras N Things. The launch in May 2025 was perhaps not incidental. To Victoria’s Secret, it was a statement of intent: Its second-largest shareholder was simultaneously developing a direct competitor. The convergence of activist investment and market competition transformed what had been framed as “constructive dialogue” into something some could argue was far more adversarial. The boardroom battle By November 2025, BBRC had sent a letter to Victoria’s Secret’s board calling for James’s removal and demanding a board seat for Blundy himself. He framed the ask in the language of governance reform. James had served on the boards of Victoria’s Secret and its predecessor entities for 25 years, and “excessive director tenure is incompatible with good governance”. He pointed to the company’s $591 million acquisition of Adore Me, a deal he described as a failure that earned a zero-dollar earnout, and noted that net income had collapsed from $646 million at the time of the spinoff to $161 million. Victoria’s Secret pushed back hard. The board twice rejected Blundy’s candidacy, citing “serious reputational, legal, conflict of interest and governance risks”. Taking it to shareholders Now, in May 2026, Blundy has gone public. BBRC formally launched a proxy battle seeking to oust James and fellow board member Mariam Naficy at the company’s upcoming annual meeting. In an open letter to shareholders, Blundy made a careful distinction: He was not there to derail the turnaround underway since CEO Hillary Super took the helm in late 2024,  he was there to accelerate it. “Ms. Super is building a new VS,” he wrote. “She deserves a board that matches her ambition”. The numbers give his argument some runway. Victoria’s Secret shares have risen approximately 117 per cent since Super’s appointment was announced. But Blundy’s pitch is that momentum is not vindication. “Months of turnaround do not make up for years of underperformance,” he said. What happens next remains unresolved. The poison pill is set to expire in May 2026, and Victoria’s Secret says it doesn’t plan to renew it. BBRC will then retain the regulatory clearance to acquire up to 49.99 per cent of voting shares. Blundy has built empires from nothing, and bought them when the opportunity arose. At Victoria’s Secret, the question is no longer whether he intends to win – it’s how. Further reading: How Victoria’s Secret’s focus on products delivered a remarkable Q4