Kenneth Cole Offers to Buy Back His Namesake Company (KCP)
February 24, 2012 by Paul AusickShoe and apparel maker Kenneth Cole Productions Inc. (NYSE: KCP) will be taken private by the company’s founder, chairman, and chief creative officer, Kenneth D. Cole. Mr. Cole already owns 47% of the company’s common stock and 89% of the voting rights, so this is essentially a done deal.
Shareholders are being offered $15/share and the total transaction is valued at around $280 million. The price is a premium of about 26% to last night’s closing price and is “a higher price than the stock has traded for since October 2010, and, prior to then, September 2008.”
The press release also notes:
Mr. Cole will not move forward with the transaction unless it is approved by the special committee [of the board of directors] and that the definitive transaction documents will provide that the transaction will be subject to a non-waivable condition requiring the approval of a majority of the shares of the Company that are not directly or indirectly owned by Mr. Cole.
Shares are up 5.9% in the pre-market, to $13.84 in a 52-week range of $10.00-$13.98.
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