Like Hudson's Bay Co., more retailers will likely try to go private as they struggle with the shift to online shopping, bankers say.
By Suzanne Kapner June 13, 2019 5:30 a.m. ET Saks’s Manhattan flagship store has been appraised at $3.7 billion, part of the reason why some investors say an offer to take its parent company private is too low. Photo: Bloomberg A group of investors this week set plans in motion to take Hudson’s Bay Co. HBC 0.76% private, hoping to fix the business out of the public eye.
Richard Baker, chairman of the Hudson's Bay Co., says that as a private company he and his partners will be better able to invest for the long term without public scrutiny. Photo: Marcel Kusch/Zuma Press Analysts and investment bankers say they expect more retailers to try to go private as they struggle with the shift to online shopping. The public markets reward fast-growing companies.
Going private doesn’t eliminate shareholders, but rather leaves CEOs facing a handful of more powerful ones, Mr. Questrom said. He noted that it is possible to invest for the long term as a public company and be rewarded for those actions by shareholders, as is the case with Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. “The companies whose stocks are down are doing a lousy job of running their business,” he said.
Lord & Taylor’s Manhattan flagship was sold in 2017, and Mr. Baker has been talking to landlords about filling other Lord & Taylor stores with new tenants, including the office-sharing company WeWork Cos. and Pinstripes, a restaurant and bowling alley, people familiar with the situation said. NRDC bought Hudson’s Bay in Canada in 2008, just as the economy tanked. The Canadians had misgivings about an American company purchasing a national treasure founded 1670, according to former executives. But NRDC refurbished stores, created a boutique to showcase designer brands, and revved up marketing, such as expanding a deal to be the Canadian Olympic team’s official outfitter from 2013 to 2020.
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