Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) has agreed to a takeover bid from a consortium led by Richard Baker, the current chief executive of HBC. That appears from one statement of the Canadian retail chain. The consortium takes Hudson’s Bay off the stock exchange in Canada, in order to put things right behind the scenes.
HBC agrees with an offer of 11 Canadian dollars (approximately € 7.60) per share. With this, the company is valued at 2 billion Canadian dollars.
At 11 dollars, Baker’s bid is higher than the first bid from the consortium, which was $ 10.30. The offer was raised after the Canadian investment company Catalyst Capital Group, also a shareholder in HBC, offered a total of $ 2 billion for HBC. The new bid from the consortium has therefore matched the bid from the investment company.
Catalyst Capital Group has agreed to the new offer because it “provides significantly more for all minority shareholders,” claims Gabriel de Alba, director of the investment company. Shareholders will vote on the offer next month.
The consortium removes Hudson’s Bay from the stock market to put things right behind the scenes. The retail chain saw the revenue from physical stores declining in recent years due to the growing popularity of online shopping.
That consumers have been unable to find Hudson’s Bay less in recent years is also apparent in the Netherlands. On Friday, the court declared the bankruptcy about the retail chain in the Netherlands. Hudson’s Bay had 15 locations in the Netherlands, but they have all been closed since 1 January. Many of the branches had already closed the doors. Only the locations in Breda and on the Kalverpassage in Amsterdam should remain open longer for the judge, but due to the bankruptcy they have now been closed.
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