Activist Investors Raise Bid for Macy’s

The activist investor group that is seeking to buy Macy’s increased the pressure on the department store chain on Sunday, raising its offer and disclosing additional details about its financing plans.

Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management said in a news release that they were now offering $24 per share, valuing the retailer at $6.6 billion. The new offer is up from the $21 a share they last put forward and a 33.3 percent premium to Macy’s closing share price of at $18.01 on Friday.

Arkhouse and Brigade named additional investors they had brought on as equity partners, Fortress Investment Group and One Investment Management. Arkhouse and Brigade also said, in an apparent response to Macy’s questions about its financing, that they had “identified large global institutional financing sources” that “represent 100 percent of the capital required to buy the shares in Macy’s we do not already own.”

The retailer has been facing pressure from these activist investors since December, when the group submitted a bid that would take Macy’s private at a value of $5.8 billion. Arkhouse and Brigade said that unless the retailer began sharing nonpublic information with them, they might take their offer to shareholders. The investors have since nominated nine people to Macy’s board.

Macy’s on Sunday said it would “carefully review and evaluate” the activist investors’ latest proposal.

“The Macy’s Inc. board has a proven track record of evaluating a broad range of options to create shareholder value, is open-minded about the best path to achieve this objective and is committed to continuing to take actions that it believes are in the best interests of the company and all Macy’s Inc. shareholders,” the company said in a statement.