The proposed $2.8bn sale of the At Home Group to a private-equity company has hit a stumbling block.
First mentioned last week, the quick-growing retailer, which specialises in home-décor, had agreed in principal to be taken over by Hellman & Friedman in an all-cash transaction valued at nearly $3bn. However in a letter to At Home’s board, CAS Investment Partners LLC – the retailer’slargest shareholder with about 17 per cent of the company’s shares — said that it plans to vote against the sale, saying that while it looks like “a great deal for H&F, it represents a slap in the face to stockholders.”
“We are writing to you today to underscore that CAS intends to vote against the transaction as currently structured,” Clifford A. Sosin, CAS Founder and Portfolio Manager, wrote in the letter. “If necessary, we are also prepared to take steps to prevent a sale to Hellman & Friedman, LLC, under the present terms. Although this is not our preferred path, we will not sit idly by as the board tries to push through a sale that we believe grossly undervalues the company and deprives stockholders of anything resembling a fair premium.”
