Elgin Area Chamber Of Commerce: Kohl's Has Another Suitor, Office Use Slow To Recover, Restaurants Seek Government Help

Elgin IL

26 January, 2022

2:31 AM

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Press release from the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce: January 25, 2022 Kohl's Has Another Suitor Department store chain Kohl's reportedly has more than one suitor interested in buying the company at a premium that includes its real estate. New York City-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners, which owns department store chain Belk and a host of other retail brands, joined the fray over the weekend with an offer of $65 per share, CNBC reported. The offer is richer than the $64 per share, or about $9 billion, reportedly offered last week by Acacia Research Corp., which is controlled by Starboard Value. Oak Street Real Estate Capital may partner with Acacia to sell off Kohl's real estate, CNBC reported. Activist investors have been pushing the chain to boost value, noting that the company is sitting on $7 billion to $8 billion in real estate. Wisconsin-based Kohl's confirmed Monday it has received letters of interest from suitors but didn't disclose who they were. Both reported offers represent a premium over the company's closing price on Friday of $46.84 per share. Investors erased most of the premium on Monday, driving the company's share price 36% higher to a close of $63.71. Office Use Slow to Recover The rise in coronavirus cases tied to the omicron variant appears to be tempering a return to the office. A big bump in office use slowed last week from the prior week. Most of the major metropolitan areas tracked by Falls Church, Virginia-based security firm Kastle Systems saw minor increases in office use during the week that ended Jan. 19. But the usual rebound that typically happens after the holidays hasn't happened. Kastle gathers anonymous employee data from workplaces where it provides access-control technology. While it is only a sampling of buildings by one security company, the data gives a peek into how employees and employers are responding to office use during the pandemic. The Dallas-Fort Worth area's 0.9% increase from the prior week is a prime example of how little the needle moved for some cities. Before the holidays, the area was above the midway point. Office use in the Charlotte area didn't move from 38.1%, more than 10 percentage points lower than in mid-December. The Boston area had a big bounce of 7.5 percentage points to hit 37.8% but is far from the more than 50% in office usage it had in November. Restaurants Seek Government Help With the rise in omicron coronavirus cases, the restaurant industry's largest trade group is lobbying Congress for more aid. The National Restaurant Association is asking Congress to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund to help businesses struggling with the recent coronavirus wave. It reported that a survey found that 46% of restaurants that didn't get a grant from the fund will survive the pandemic. "Two years into the pandemic, restaurants are still struggling to keep their doors open amid a surge in coronavirus cases, inflation, a labor shortage, and supply chain delays," the association said in a letter addressed to Congress. "Alarmingly, the industry still hasn't recreated the more than 650,000 jobs lost early in the pandemic, a loss 45% more than the next closest industry." Most restaurants closed during the early pandemic lockdowns that kept people at home and then there were capacity limits once restaurants could reopen. Congress approved $29 billion in relief funds last year but some 177,000 applicants couldn't get some of the money, the association said. Source: www.CoStar.com This press release was produced by the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author's own.