Panel recommends against HBC chairman’s bid

BRAMPTON, Ont. — A special panel concluded last week that Chairman Richard Baker’s $1.74 billion bid to take Hudson’s Bay Co. private was inadequate. Baker and a consortium of shareholders controlling a total of 57% of HBC, offered $9.45 per share for the remaining stake in June. The sum represented a premium on the stock’s value at the time, but since the announcement its value has shot up to more than $9.75. Activist shareholder Jonathan Litt has panned the offer as “woefully inadequate”, arguing it reflects only about half of the retailer’s value. The bid by baker’s group now has competition from private equity firm Catalyst Capital Group, which offered in July to buy a stake worth nearly $150 million and to oppose moves to take HBC private. The committee declined to take a position on Catalyst’s offer, which amounts to $10.11 per share.