Sweetened bid may be in the offing for Hudson’s Bay

The battle to take Hudson’s Bay private drags on.

Hudson's Bay Co. chairman Richard Baker and his partners have reportedly approached the company's minority shareholders about raising their offer to take the department store company private from C$10.30 a share to C$11 a share.

In October, Hudson’s Bay agreed to be taken private by the Baker group, but the Baker offer did not get enough shareholder votes on Dec. 13, according to Reuters. (Collectively, Baker and his group own 57% of the company but they need a majority of the minority stakeholders to go through with this deal.)

If the Baker group does up its offer to $C11 a share, it would put the bid offer in about the same price range as Catalyst Capital, which made a bid for Hudson’s Bay in November. The Catalyst proposal was rejected by a special committee of the board because Baker’s group said it wouldn’t tender its shares.