Can Barnes & Noble Follow Books-A-Million Going Private?

Retail

Published: January 30, 2015 12:05 pm

Last Updated: April 27, 2020 6:22 pm

Bookseller Books-A-Million Inc. (NASDAQ: BAMM) said Friday morning that it has received an offer from the company’s executive chairman, Clyde B. Anderson, on behalf of the Anderson family to acquire “certain outstanding shares” of the Books-A-Million stock at a cash price of $2.75 a share.

According to the latest Schedule 13D/A, various entities and members of the Anderson family already own 58.2% of the company’s outstanding shares. The announced offer is being made to acquire 100% of the company’s outstanding shares and would require $17.3 million in funding, which the Anderson family proposes to finance through an existing Books-A-Million credit line. The Anderson family expects that a special committee of independent board members will be appointed to review the proposal and the family said that it will not move ahead without approval from the special committee.

Naturally a move like this makes investors think of Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS), wondering whether a similar go-private move could be in store for that company. That option was floated as long ago as 2010, when the company’s founder and executive chairman Leonard Riggio said he would consider joining an investor group to acquire B&N. That did not happen then and it probably will not happen now.

For one thing, Riggio owns a somewhat smaller share of B&N than he did four and a half years ago. For another, the stock was about 50% cheaper then than it is now.

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More important, the company still expects to complete the split it announced last year by the end of the current quarter. The company plans to separate its B&N Retail business, which is performing somewhat better than expectations, from its Nook Media business, which is not.

B&N also announced last week that its retail CEO will retire in May and that it is currently seeking a replacement.

Shares of Books-A-Million traded up about 47% at $2.46, after rising to a high of $2.65 earlier Friday morning. The stock’s 52-week range is $1.39 to $2.75 and shares closed at $1.68 on Thursday.

B&N’s shares traded down about 2% just before noon on Friday, at $23.52 in a 52-week range of $13.02 to $24.95.

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