(Toronto) Shares of Indigo Books & Music were up about 50% in early trading Friday, following the announcement the day before of a privatization proposal from two companies owned by the majority shareholder Gerald Schwartz.
Indigo shares were up 67 cents, or 45.27%, at $2.24 around midday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Trilogy Retail Holdings and Trilogy Investments announced a non-binding offer after the market closed Thursday that would allow them to pay $2.25 per share in cash for the stake in Indigo they don’t already own.
These are two personal portfolio companies of Mr. Schwartz, founder and chairman of Onex Corp. who serves on Indigo’s board of directors and is the spouse of Indigo’s CEO, Heather Reisman.
Through the Trilogy Companies, Mr. Schwartz owns approximately 56% of the issued and outstanding common stock of Indigo, while 4.6% of the shares are owned by Mme Reisman through another holding company.
Trilogy said it did not want to sell its shares.