Takeover Spotlight

Article Excerpt

HUDSON’S BAY CO. $9.85 (Toronto symbol HBC; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 184.1 million; Market cap: $1.8 billion; Takeover Target Rating: Highest; Dividend yield: 0.4%; www.hbc.com) operates Canadian retail chains Hudson’s Bay and Home Outfitters; HBC Europe; Lord & Taylor; Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th. On June 10, 2019, Hudson’s Bay’s chairman, Richard Baker, along with other large shareholders including Rhone Capital, Abrams Capital Management, and WeWork Property Advisors, offered investors $9.45 a share in cash to take the company private. Baker and other shareholders involved in the bid collectively own 57% of Hudson’s Bay. Approximately 78.5% of the company’s shareholders need to approve the deal for the privatization to proceed. Hudson’s Bay also plans to sell its operations in Germany for $1.5 billion. It will use $436 million of that cash to fully repay its debt. Activist investor Land & Buildings owns about 3% of Hudson’s Bay’s and feels the offer is “woefully inadequate.” It wants the company to keep all of the…