At Home Group’s biggest shareholder to oppose deal to take retailer private: WSJ By Reuters

(Reuters) – The largest shareholder of U.S. retail chain At Home Group (NYSE:) Inc plans to oppose a deal to take the retailer private, because it says the sale price is too low, the Wall Street Journal reported https://on.wsj.com/3ePv2Iw on Sunday.

CAS Investment Partners LLC, which owns around 17% of the company’s shares, wrote in the letter Sunday that it plans to vote against a roughly $2.4 billion sale to private-equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC to buy At Home Group, the report added.

CAS said in the letter cited in the Wall Street Journal that the deal “grossly undervalues the company and deprives stockholders of anything resembling a fair premium.” It suggested that a price above $70 a share would be more realistic based on its projections and said it is prepared to try to block the current deal if needed, the Wall Street Journal report said.

At Home Group and CAS Investment Partners did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.

The move comes as hedge fund Honest Capital said on Tuesday that it opposes the deal that At Home Group Inc signed earlier this month to sell itself to private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, even as the U.S. home goods retailer searches for a higher bid.

Honest Capital wrote to the company’s board of directors to argue the $36-per-share all-cash deal was too low a valuation for At Home, given that it has plans to more than double its number of stores to 600 and consumers have more cash to spruce up their decor.

Earlier this month, U.S. retail chain At Home Group Inc said that the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman will take the company private in a deal valued at $2.8 billion, at a time when demand for home decor and home-furnishing products is booming.