200-year old Hamleys sold
 |
Story Tools
|
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- British toy retailer Hamleys Plc said on Tuesday it had agreed a 205 pence per share bid from Icelandic retailer Baugur and Hamleys management, valuing the firm at about 47.4 million pounds ($78 million).
The 200-year-old toy seller, best known for its flagship store in London's Regent Street, said the offer represented a premium of about 62.1 pence per share of its closing middle share price on March 14 -- the last business day before it announced a possible management buy-out of Hamleys.
At 0728 GMT shares in Hamleys were up 4.1 percent at 202 pence.
The bid vehicle being used by Baugur and Hamleys managment, called Soldier, said it had received acceptances from institutional shareholders representing about 40.5 percent of Hamleys.
Tim Waterstone, the founder of Waterstone's bookstores, has been rivalling Baugur in the race for Hamleys.
A spokesman for Waterstone declined to comment on whether he now intended to pull out of the race.
Hamleys also reported on Tuesday a 35 percent rise in pre-tax profit before exceptional items for the year to March 29 of 5.6 million pounds.
