The board of directors of Books-A-Million has signed a definitive agreement with the Anderson family under which the Andersons will buy all the shares in the bookstore chain that they do not already own.
Under the terms of deal, the Andersons will pay $3.25 per share for the outstanding stock, a considerable increase over the $2.75 per share offer the family had offered when the made their first bid in January. BAM’s stock closed at $2.64 per share on Monday.
Following the January bid by the Anderson family, which already owns a majority of BAM’s shares, the company appointed a two person special committee to review the offer. In a statement released by the chain, BAM said that after reviewing the proposal the committee “determined that of the various options available, including remaining a public company, a proposed transaction at an acceptable price would be the best option for stockholders other than the Anderson Family.” With the backing of the committee the offer was then approved by the BAM board.
The deal still needs to be approved by a majority of shareholders outside of the Anderson family, although no problems are expected. Unlike the first offer made by the Andersons to take the company private two years ago, no serious objections to the offer have been made. The company puts the value of the deal at $21 million.
