G Asset Management Offers To Buy Controlling Stake In Barnes & Noble

(RTTNews) - Private investment firm G Asset Management LLC has offered to buy a controlling stake in U.S. bookstore chain Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS) for $22 a share. Shares of Barnes & Noble are currently up seven percent on the NYSE.

G Asset has made a proposal to acquire 51 percent of Barnes & Noble at price of $22 a share, which represents a 30 premium to the company's current market price.

Alternatively, G Asset has offered to buy 51 percent of the Nook segment, which includes the tablet, content and accessories, valuing the unit at $5 per share.

G Asset stated in its proposal that it was extremely confident that if the Nook segment is separated from the profitable retail and college business, substantial shareholder value would be created.

Barnes & Noble has been struggling to make the Nook unit a profitable business despite investing heavily in it, as the tablet market continues to be dominated by Apple Inc.'s iPad.

Earlier, G Asset had said that the company is substantially undervalued in its current form, more specifically that the aggregate value of the key segments of the company's business is not reflected in the company's share price.

The current offer is an increase from G Asset's November 15, 2013 proposal to the board, which valued the company at $20 per share.

In that proposal, GAM suggested the company to spin off the unprofitable Nook segment from the college and retail segment and recommended commencing a rights offering for the Nook segment to existing shareholders.

BKS is currently trading at $17.97, up $1.19 or 7.08%, on a volume of 7 million shares, above the three-month average volume.