The investment firm seeking to buy and take private BlueLinx added today a fourth week--until Friday, Oct. 1--to the deadline for its offer to pay $49.6 million for the 45% of the shares in the Atlanta-based distributor that it doesn't already own.
The SEC filing by Cerberus ABP Investor LLC (CAI), an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management L.P., was virtually the same as CAI's Aug. 26, Sept. 1, and Sept. 10 filings that each tacked an extra week onto CAI's offer. In all those cases, the company said it's extending the deadline "to permit CAI and Cerberus a further opportunity to discuss and negotiate the terms of the offer with the special committee of the board of directors of BlueLinx formed to consider the offer." That three-member panel was organized on July 22, the day after CAI gave notice of its tender offer, but as of yet it hasn't announced its opinion.
CAI's offer to pay $3.40 per share to buy roughly 14.6 million BlueLinx shares was to expire at midnight Aug. 27, but on Aug. 13 it extended that deadline to Sept. 3. CAI then presumably upped the pressure on BlueLinx to act when it gave notice on Aug. 20 that it would kill its offer unless the special committee that shareholders in the Atlanta-based distributor accept the investment group's terms. But several times since it has chosen instead to extend the deadline.
Today's announcement pushes the new deadline for the offer to midnight ET Friday, Oct 1. As of 5 p.m. today, Sept. 10, a total of 680,072 shares of the roughly 14.6 million that it doesn't already own had been tendered and not withdrawn. That's about 56,000 more than last week.
BlueLinx provides products from more than 750 suppliers to 11,500 customers nationwide. It reported on Aug. 5 a net loss of $3.4 million for the second quarter, swinging from a year-earlier profit of $600,000. That loss occurred despite a 27.7% increase in revenues to $540.8 million.
