|
The No.1 U.S. book store chain also adopted a plan to thwart any
hostile bid after it found a rapid accumulation of stocks by
parties that the company said it could not identify.
The plan would prevent any party from accumulating 20 percent or
more of its common shares by automatically offering preferred
shares at a 50 percent discount to other shareholders.
Riggio, who holds the largest stake of 19.24 percent according
to Refinitiv data, has committed to vote in favor of any
transaction recommended by the special committee formed to
review strategic options, the company said.
The New-York based company has been struggling with declining
sales for years as consumers increasingly move online. Even the
company's Nook e-book reader has been largely overshadowed by
Amazon's Kindle and other tablets.
Nearly a month ago, investor Richard Schottenfeld disclosed a
higher stake of 6.9 percent in the bookseller and said he had
discussed with Riggio about a possible sale.
Schottenfeld sees better business from the bookseller's 629
stores by moving away from music and DVD sales to high-margin
toys and games ahead of the holiday season and in the wake of
Toys 'R' Us bankruptcy, a filing in August showed.
Schottenfeld did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Guggenheim Securities LLC acted as financial adviser and Paul,
Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP was its legal adviser.
The company's shares were up 22 percent at $6.65 in after-market
trading.
(Reporting by Soundarya J in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur
and Shounak Dasgupta)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
