The founder of Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is preparing to make a fully financed offer for the company no later than this Sunday. The offer is expected to be in the range of $5 billion to $6 billion.
According to a report at the StarTribune, Best Buy founder Richard Schulze has lined up financing from bankers and private equity investors, including Cerberus and Leonard Greene & Partners.
When Schulze first made some noise about acquiring the floundering big-box electronics retailer, shares were above $20 and it was generally believed an offer of around $25 a share would be needed to get the deal down. Best Buy’s shares fell below $12 in mid-November, and a per share price of around $17 may get the deal done.
Of course, that does not answer the question of why Schulze would want Best Buy in the first place. Schulze was forced to resign earlier this year after he was determined to have withheld information from the company’s board related to an affair between then-CEO Brian Dunn and a female employee. Does Schulze just want to get control and replace the whole board? How does he plan to turn the floundering ship around? E-commerce sales? Sell all the real estate? It is a poser.
Shares of Best Buy have leaped in premarket trading this morning, up 16.4% to $14.18. The 52-week range is $11.41 to $27.95.
Paul Ausick
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