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Store chain Kohl's rejects possible takeover offers as inadequate

By Rich Klein
Traders are seen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street in New York City on January 25. Kohl's on Friday said it's offering a shareholder rights plan in a bid to head off a possible hostile takeover in the future. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Traders are seen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street in New York City on January 25. Kohl's on Friday said it's offering a shareholder rights plan in a bid to head off a possible hostile takeover in the future. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Department store chain Kohl's said on Friday that it's rebuffed efforts by other groups to acquire the company because the offers -- which were for several billion dollars -- don't reflect the true value of the chain.

Kohl's said last month that it had received letters that expressed interest in acquiring the company. Friday, it said that a full evaluation determined that the offers "do not adequately reflect the company's value in light of its future growth and cash flow generation."

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Kohl's has nearly 1,200 locations in every state except Hawaii.

"We have a high degree of confidence in Kohl's transformational strategy, and we expect that its continued execution will result in significant value creation," Kohl's Chairman Frank Sica said in a statement.

"The board [of directors] is committed to acting in the best interest of shareholders and will continue to closely evaluate any opportunities to create value."

The company also announced a shareholder rights plan that will take effect next year, which allows the board of directors to expressly review potential future acquisition offers. Such a plan is also known as a "poison pill" and is intended to ward off a hostile takeover.

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Marcellus Advisors, an activist investor firm that owns about 5% of Kohl's, was critical of the company's leadership in a letter last month to Kohl's shareholders and urged them to sell. If successful, such a scenario would be known as a hostile takeover.

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