By
Bloomberg
Published
Jan 23, 2024
Arkhouse Management Co. has asked Macy’s Inc. for access to more financial information after the US department store operator rejected a $5.8 billion takeover offer from the investment firm and Brigade Capital Management.
“Our sincere hope is they send us a confidentiality agreement so we can share more information on financing with them,” Gavriel Kahane, managing partner at Arkhouse, told Bloomberg TV on Monday.
Macy’s knocked back a $21 per share bid from Arkhouse and Brigade on Sunday, saying it lacked “compelling value.” The Macy’s board was also concerned that the bidders couldn’t finance a deal of that size.
Kahane said Arkhouse was “hopeful” the offer could be increased if it had access to the books at Macy’s. While Arkhouse earlier threatened to take the offer directly to Macy’s shareholders if the retailer doesn’t step up to negotiate, it has not yet taken such steps.
“Our investor group has multiples of the enterprise value in readily-available funds to complete the transaction,” Kahane said.
Macy’s has struggled as shoppers opt to buy more clothes and homewares online, rather than in stores. Kahane said the company’s plans to cut jobs and close stores will deliver only “negligible” improvements to performance.
Shares in Macy’s were up 2.7% at 1:18 p.m. in New York on Monday, giving the company a market value of about $5 billion. The stock has fallen more than a fifth in the past year.