Kohl's jumps over 30% on takeover interest from Sycamore, Acacia

Acacia Research

24/01/2022 15:03

(Updates)
    ** Shares of Kohl's Corp  KSS.N  jump 31.2% to $61.33; stock
touches over two-month high and on track for its best day ever
    ** Private equity firm Sycamore Partners is preparing to
make a bid for KSS days after a consortium backed by activist
investment firm Starboard Value proposed buying co, three
sources say  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2U30IJ  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2U42Z2
    ** Sycamore's potential offer would value KSS around $9 bln;
firm is willing to pay at least $65 a share in cash, a ~39%
premium to stock's Friday close
    ** KSS last traded above $65 in May 2019   
    ** Acacia Research  ACTG.O , which is backed by Starboard,
earlier offered to pay $64 a share for KSS
    ** Takeover interest in KSS also pushes up shares of rival
department store chains: Macy's  M.N  and Nordstrom  JWN.N  up
9% and 6.3%, respectively 
    ** Kohl's confirms it has received letters of buyout
interest but did not name suitors        
    ** KSS is up 38% in last 12 months, vs ~93% gain for M and
~44% drop for JWN

 (Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru)
 ((UdaySampath.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S.+1 646 223
8780; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sampath_uday  ;))