MONTREAL — Hudson’s Bay Co. is in talks with other parties in an effort to stave off a $935 million hostile takeover bid from American financier Jerry Zucker.
The negotiations were revealed in an HBC board filing with government regulators and sent to shareholders who rejected Zucker’s bid for being too low. It said the board “is actively assessing and pursuing alternatives to the offers [from Zucker’s Maple Leaf Heritage Investments Acquisition Corp.] and discussions are under way with numerous parties who have expressed an interest in a strategic transaction with HBC.”
“It’s a normal course of action that management takes in this kind of situation,” said retail analyst George Hartman of Dundee Securities Corp. in Toronto. “But if other people do have an interest, there’s room for a better offer.”
A spokesman for Maple Leaf said Zucker has no plans to improve his offer and expects to respond to HBC’s rejection this week. Asked if Zucker can turn things around at HBC, which reported a third-quarter loss last week of $43 million on sales of $1.39 billion, Hartman said Zucker likely will hire someone to turn it around. All figures have been converted from Canadian dollars.
The $43 million loss, or 61 cents a share, for the quarter ended Oct. 31 was a steep increase from a loss of $6.8 million, or nine cents, on sales of $1.44 billion a year earlier. For the first nine months, HBC lost $85.5 million, or $1.23 cents a share, on revenue of $4 billion versus a loss of $39 million, or 57 cents, on revenue of $4.11 billion.