The Venator Group, "citing adverse stock market
conditions, cancelled plans to acquire" The Sports Authority
(TSA), according to Yumiko Ono of the WALL STREET JOURNAL.
Venator agreed to acquire TSA in a stock transaction last
May, and agreed to issue 0.8 share for each of TSA's
"approximately" 31.6 million shares outstanding. The deal
was valued at around $579.6M at the time it was announced,
but based on yesterday's closing, Venator's bid is now worth
"about" $218M. In NYSE trading yesterday, Venator's shares
fell $.25 to $8.625, while TSA's shares fell almost $.63, or
11%, to $5.1875. Analysts told Ono that they "weren't
surprised the deal fell apart," considering that TSA had the
right to walk away if Venator's shares traded below $20.50
for a certain period of time before year end. A Venator
spokesperson, asked if the company might try to renegotiate
a deal with TSA: "We will keep our options open. That would
include strategic opportunities as they arise." TSA Chair &
CEO Jack Smith said the company "isn't ruling out being
acquired by others" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/11). One
analyst told Richard Wilner of the N.Y. POST that he didn't
like the deal, as Venator CEO Roger Farah "tried to take two
ailing companies and by uniting them make them well. That
has never worked and will never work" (N.Y. POST, 9/11).
SMART GART? In Denver, Donald Blount writes that it
"was a good day for Gart Sports," as second-quarter earnings
showed "increased sales and revenues," and the Venator/TSA
deal, a merger "that would have strengthened its chief rival
fell through" (DENVER POST, 9/11).