Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim HelU has again increased his holdings in Saks Inc., but is no closer to the 20 percent ownership threshold established when the company deployed a poison pill plan triggered by his actions.
Slim Helú, through his investment trust Inmobiliaria Carso, acquired another 300,000 shares of Saks on Jan. 23 at prices ranging from $2.30 to $2.56 a share, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This boosted his holdings to 25.55 million shares, or 18 percent of the 142.1 million shares outstanding. The investment was just over $700,000, or an average of $2.34 a share.
On Thursday, Saks’ shares fell 14 cents, or 5.1 percent, to $2.59.
In November, Slim Helú padded his Saks holdings by 3.3 million shares to 25.25 million. However, because there were fewer shares outstanding — 137.7 million — his stake on a percentage basis was actually larger, 18.3 percent.
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Days after Slim Helú’s November purchase, Saks enacted its poison pill plan, which becomes effective when a single investor acquires 20 percent or more of the luxury retailer’s stock. The plan gave each shareholder a preferred share purchase right that can be exercised if a person or group picks up more than one-fifth of the company’s shares. All shareholders but the acquiring party then would be allowed to purchase a number of Saks’ common shares that have a market value of twice that of the exercise price, thereby diluting the acquirer’s position.