Activist Investor Unhappy With Hudson's Bay's WeWork Play
Hudson’s Bay is under fire despite attempts to create liquidity by selling off assets including its Lord & Taylor building in Manhattan.
Activist investor Land & Buildings Investment Management has taken issue with the sale and claims it is dilutive to common stock shareholders, CNBC reports.
WeWork Property Advisors bought the New York building for $850M with a minority stake of preferred stock going to Rhone Capital for an additional $500M. But the deal also includes a clause that would allow Rhone to convert its preferred stock into common stock. If Rhone chooses to move forward with this option, it would increase the number of shares Rhone holds and decrease the ownership of other shareholders.
The deal also calls for Rhone to support Hudson’s Bay’s board nominees during a vote.
Hudson’s Bay received a $3.5B offer Wednesday for its German business, Galeria Kaufhof. The offer came from Signa Holding, which is the company’s main competitor in Germany, Retail Dive reports.
While Hudson’s Bay is considering the deal, the company cautioned that it would not be agreeing to the sale right away because the offer is subject to a number of assumptions, conditions and contingencies.
