According to published sources, on Saturday, the retailer received an unsolicited bid of $9 billion to go private from a consortium backed by an active investor. Hedge fund, Starboard Value LP, offered to buy the department store chain for $64 per share in cash,
the new York Times And
wall street journal Both informed.
According to reports, Starboard controls Acacia Research Corp., the group that is making the buyout Overture. Its offering will be a significant bump to Kohl’s current share price, which closed Friday at $46.84.
A Kohl’s spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
The company has been a target of active investors and short sellers for months. In December, Engineered Capital said in a letter to Kohl’s board of directors, “the public market is not appreciating Kohl’s in its current form,” and “the board has no excuse for clinging to the status quo.”
This was the second push in 2021 from an active investor group. settled with kohl’s
Another group in Aprilagreed to appoint three new members to its board.
And last week, another activist hedge fund, McCallum Advisors,
said in a letter Kohl’s board of directors and leadership team spent the last year “mismanaging the business and failing to implement necessary” reforms. The hedge fund owns about 5% of Kohl’s shares.
Maiselm said it planned to nominate new board members until Kohl’s decided to continue working with the firm. If Kohl’s board won’t make changes, the company should find out the sale, activists said.
In a statement on Tuesday, the retailer said Maiselm was “not prepared to engage constructively” with Kohl’s and said the fund’s letter and announcement were “distracting.”
The knives for Kohl’s have been out for months as one active investor after another has written to the board or publicly advocated for a change in leadership, the company’s strategy, or both.
brick-and-mortar giants like
walmart ,wmt,And
Target ,TGT,as well as discount chains such as
TJ Max ,TJX, And
burlington ,burl, For years, department stores have been putting pressure on the chain. Some, such as Sears and Neiman Marcus, have gone into bankruptcy.
But Kohl’s has taken steps in recent years to attract shoppers, including partnering with Amazon to accept returns on Amazon purchases at its own stores, adding new clothing and home goods brands, expanding its wares. and even leasing space at a handful of stores.
planet health ,plnt, and Aldi.
Nathaniel Meyerson contributed to this story.
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