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Profile Advisors represents Ortelius Advisors, which has filed a lawsuit to block the takeover of Hudson’s Bay Co., owner of Saks Fifth Ave, by a group led by its executive chairman Richard Baker.
Ortelius, which owns a 0.5 percent stake in HBC, alleges that Baker and HBC took actions to knock down the value of the company’s shares.
Peter DeSorcy, managing member of Ortelius, said Baker’s duties as executive chairman “were inexorably compromised” after he tried to buy the company two years ago.
“His interests were no longer aligned with minority investors in maximizing shareholder value, but in minimizing the purchase price for the continuing shareholders,” said DeSorcy.
Ortelius charges that documents prepared by HBC contain “a number of misrepresentations and omissions.” It claims that HBC and Baker have undervalued the worth of HBC’s flagship Saks property by more than 50 percent.
Profile’s Greg Marose and Charlotte Kiaie represent Ortelius.
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher backs the Baker group bid. It has Matthew Sherman, Kelly Sullivan, Annabelle Rinehart and Kara Brickman handling that effort.
Sard Verbinnen & Co.’s Liz Zale Paul Scarpetta and Meghan Gavigan work for the special committee of HBC that accepted Baker bid over a competing offer by private equity firm Catalyst Capital Group.
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Joele Frank works for Klöckner Pentaplast as the German maker of plastic films declares Chapter 11. A successful reorganization would slash its its corporate debt by $1.5B.
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