After considering buyout offers from several high profile suitors, including private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the top brass at luxury department store chain Saks Fifth Avenue have made their choice--Hudson's Bay Co., a department store retailer based in Canada and the current owner of U.S.-based department store chain Lord & Taylor.
According to The New York Times, Hudson's will pay $16 per share for Saks' stock--a 4.5 percent premium to the price of Saks' shares on Friday. The company plans to finance the acquisition by using a combination of newly issued stock and bonds, available cash and a $1.8 billion loan.
The choice to go with Hudson's Bay may be a wise one for Saks--in spite of facing an almost crumbling chain, NRDC Equity Partners, Hudson's Bay owner, was able to do wonders to rehabilitate Lord & Taylor, so it has a proven track record in operating retail, and department store chains in particular.