Nov 5 (Reuters) – Activist investor Arkhouse called on Barry Diller’s media company People to repurchase at least $750 million of shares through a Dutch auction tender offer and sell its New York headquarters to improve share price.
Here are more details:
• Arkhouse, a longtime shareholder of People, said in a letter to Chairman Diller and the company’s board on Thursday that People was trading at a substantial discount to the value of its underlying assets
• People had nearly $1 billion in cash at the parent-company level and no debt, giving it the financial flexibility to pursue the proposed measures, the investor said
• Arkhouse said it believed the New York headquarters could attract buyers at valuations approaching $300 million, compared with People’s estimated purchase price of about $230 million for the building and underlying land
• Arkhouse also urged People to issue contingent value rights to shareholders representing their proportionate share of net proceeds from the company’s litigation against Alphabet over alleged damages
• The investor is also evaluating a potential transaction involving People
• People withdrew its more than $18 billion bid for MGM Resorts in September after the proposed deal failed to come together, leaving the media company with about 27% stake in the casino operator
• People shares up about 1.8% in premarket trading
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru)
