The founding family of American Greetings has raised its offer to take the company private after shares rose above the previous bid and a special committee set up to evaluate the transaction asked the family to reconsider the price.
In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, the Weiss family, which includes the company’s chairman, Morry Weiss, as well as his sons, Zev, the chief executive, and Jeffrey, the president and chief operating officer, raised its offer to $19 a share from $18.20 in April. The new offer values the company at $551 million, excluding debt.
“The special committee asked us to reconsider the deal price in light of recent developments,†the Weiss family said in a letter to the American Greetings special committee. “While we firmly believe that the $18.20 per share price is binding and remains fair, we have concluded that enhancing the price is the right thing to do.â€
Shares of American Greetings rose 5 percent, to $19.01, in early afternoon trading.
The Weiss fmily first proposed acquiring the company in September, when it offered $17.18 a share. It subsequently raised its offer to $17.50 in January and finally $18.20 in April.
The board of American Greetings formed a special committee to review the offer. The Weiss family did not participate in that process. The committee “concluded unanimously that the transaction with the Weiss family was fair and in the best interests of the company’s public shareholders (other than the Weiss Family shareholders),†the company said in a statement in April.
One big investor, TowerView, the fund run by Daniel Tisch, which owns a 6.2 percent stake in American Greetings, opposed the deal and said in May that it wanted the special committee’s financial adviser, the Peter J. Solomon Company, to withdraw its finding that the deal was fair. It also asked the special committee to reverse its opinion.
A representative from TowerView could not be reached immediately for comment.
American Greetings,! which is based in Cleveland, traces its roots to Jacob Saperstein, who soon after arriving in the United States from Poland in 1905 began buying post cards from German manufacturers and selling them to local merchants in Cleveland. In the 1940s, Mr. Saperstein’s sons changed the family name to Stone. Morry Weiss is the son-in-law of Irving Stone, a former chairman.
The law firm Sullivan & Cromwell advised the special committee of the board. The law firm Baker & Hostetler advised American Greetings.
