After investor buys 9.9%, Pier 1 announces debt offering

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 2/8/2006 1:57:00 PM

Fort Worth, Tex. – Pier 1 Imports aims to sell $150 million of convertible debt, the company announced yesterday following the news that an investor had acquired nearly 10% of its shares.

Danish investor Jakup a Dul Jacobsen in recent days acquired about 8.6 million common stock shares of Pier 1, representing 9.9% of the outstanding shares. The buy, as shown on the form 13 D filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, was at a price of about $93 million, made through Jacobsen’s affiliation with two Reykjavik, Iceland-based entities, Kaupthing Bank and his wholly-owned company Lagerinn.

In September 2005, SEC filings show Jacobsen had purchased 9.9% of Linens ’n Things shares through the same two companies.

Pier 1 management is reportedly making the debt offer as a takeover-blocking maneuver, according to financial analysts at UBS Investment Bank, which most recently upgraded its rating of the $1.9 billion retailer to “neutral.”