(Reuters) -Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management have increased their bid to buy Macy’s (NYSE:) for about $6.9 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Shares of the department store chain rose 1.1% in aftermarket trading.
The new proposal is to acquire the Macy’s shares that Arkhouse and Brigade Capital do not already own for $24.80 each, up from $24 per share offered in March, the report said. Arkhouse, which has a 4.4% stake in Macy’s, had previously raised its offering price from $21 to $24 per share.
Arkhouse Management, Brigade Capital and Macy’s did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The current offer of $24.80 represents a nearly 43% premium over Macy’s closing price on December 8, when a deal was first discussed.
Macy’s had ended a nearly two-month proxy contest with Arkhouse Management in April by adding two of the activist investor’s nominees, Richard Clark and Richard Markee, to the board.
The retailer had then said it was in discussions with Arkhouse and Brigade Capital over their revised buyout proposal.
Clark and Markee joined as part of the council’s finance committee, which would oversee the review of Arkhouse and Brigade’s proposal in addition to existing responsibilities.
