Hudson's Bay Co. HBAYF

David Abrams

[seatleslim]

"MR. ABRAMS: I guess I would certainly agree with those points about staying away from bad people. I think some of the biggest individual investment mistakes have been in fraudulent situations, which is always tough to guard against if somebody is trying to purposely deceive you. But as long as you get an inkling of that and stay away. And fighting with bad people is definitely not a great use of time."

I would keep an eye on Abrams, because his involvement just doesn't add up.  The assets here are not obscure -- there would be multiple bidders for different pieces of it.  He would have supplement his rigid value investing philosophy to include special situations, where he can align with other shareholders  and control shareholders to fleece minority holders.  To be part of something that is predicated on not entertaining superior offers makes him "bad people".  

Also note that this group already owns 56%of the company.  To pay 20% more for the 44% they don't own isn't as big a deal as the headline would otherwis imply.  In other words, their invesment basis would go up by less than half that amount.

They fully intend to increase the offer.  That's what this is referring to:  "Given our familiarity with the Company, we are confident that we will be able to negotiate and complete a transaction quickly"