Elliott Management acquires Barnes & Noble for $ 683 million

The group of Elliott Management activists announced Friday its intention to acquire the Barnes & Noble bookseller for about $ 683 million, including debt.

The transaction values ​​Barnes & Noble at $ 6.50 per share, a 43% premium over the retailer's 10-day weighted average closing price, before the news of an impending transaction is disclosed on Thursday. .

Barnes & Noble has been subject to continued pressure from Amazon and independent booksellers. Its shares had fallen about 25% since the start of the week before the news of the deal was leaked Thursday. In the past five years, Barnes & Noble has lost more than $ 1 billion in market value.

Amazon holds nearly half of new book sales, according to an audience report produced by the Codex group last year, while Walmart holds about 4.2% of the market

In search of a turnaround, Barnes & Noble announced last year that he was considering a sale after receiving "expressions of interest" from "several parties", including his president. , Leonard Riggio, who founded the company in 1965.

Riggio has entered into a voting agreement in favor of the transaction, the company said Friday.

As a private company, Barnes & Noble will probably be more free to make the changes and investments that may be difficult to handle under a public projector. Part of the bookseller's turnaround was to close some of its more than 600 stores in the United States and to expand into smaller spaces that have a fresh, modern look. The company said its prototype stores are encouraging buyers to buy books online or from a tablet.

The retailer showed small signs of recovery. In March, he said that during the holidays, sales in establishments open for at least a year during the quarter had increased by 1.1%, the best quarterly performance of the past three years. In January, he had $ 15 million in cash and cash equivalents.

Elliott for his part, the firm founded and led by billionaire Paul Singer, acquired the British company the largest bookseller, Waterstones, last year. The possession of the two giants of the book retail business could give Elliott synergies and a leverage advantage with publishers, say people familiar with the industry.

Elliott will operate the two retailers independently, the company said Friday, although Waterstones CEO James Daunt oversees the two retailers as general manager.

CNBC Lauren Thomas contributed to this report