Kohl's jumps over 30% on takeover interest, pulls up rivals

Acacia Research

24/01/2022 19:32

(Updates)
    ** Shares of Kohl's Corp  KSS.N  jump as much as 36.3% to an
over eight-month high of $63.84
    ** 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, a ~39% premium to
stock's Friday close
    ** Acacia Research  ACTG.O , which is backed by Starboard,
earlier offered to pay $64 a share for KSS; Co confirms it has
received letters of buyout interest but did not name suitors 
    ** KSS last up 33% and set for its best day ever
    ** Takeover interest in KSS also pushes up shares of rival
department store chains Macy's  M.N  and Nordstrom  JWN.N  up
15% and 10.3%, respectively 
    ** Other retail stocks also up amid a broader market
selloff; Best Buy  BBY.N , Dollar tree  DLTR.O  and Foot Locker
 FL.N  rise 2.5% to 6% 
    ** Apparel retailers Gap Inc  GPS.N , American Eagle
Outfitters and Abercrombie & Fitch  ANF.N  up 5.7% to 10%       
  
    ** KSS now up 38% in last 12 months, vs ~104% gain for M and
~41% 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  ;))