HBC says takeover offer is fair for shareholders
Valuation determines payment ‘fair,’ as transaction vote looms
A special committee of Hudson Bay’s board is reaffirming its endorsement of a buyout of shares to take the company private after receiving an updated valuation, one of the conditions of a deal that was announced earlier this month.
On Jan. 3, the company that owns the chain of department stores announced a group headed by executive chair Richard Baker raised its going-private offer to $11 per share, satisfying Catalyst Capital Group, its leading rival shareholder which controls about 17.5 per cent of the company’s common shares.
Catalyst said that one condition was that TD Securities Inc. provide a new formal valuation of Hudson’s Bay Co. prior to a vote and that “the lower end of the range of the fair market value of the HBC Shares is equal to or less than $11.”
In a news release Monday, HBC said the updated valuation determined that, as of that day, the fair market value of the common shares of HBC ranged between $9.75 and $12 per common share.
The release says that TD Securities determined that the payment to the common shareholders of HBC “is fair, from a financial point of view, to such shareholders.”
A vote on the transaction will be held at meeting of shareholders on Feb. 27, and to pass it will need at least 75 per cent of the votes cast by all shareholders and at least a simple majority of votes by minority shareholders, including Catalyst.