Kohl’s Corp. announced Friday that takeover talks with Franchise Group have ended without a deal. Franchise Group was the top bidder at $60 per share after Kohl’s engaged with 25 companies. “Despite a concerted effort on both sides, the current financing and retail environment created significant obstacles to reaching an acceptable and fully executable agreement. Given the environment and market volatility, the Board determined that it simply was not prudent to continue pursuing a deal,” said Peter Boneparth, board chair, in a statement. There had been media reports of an end to the talks earlier Friday, which sent Kohl’s shares plunging more than 11% before the stock was halted . Franchise Group stock fell 3.2% in Friday premarket trading. Kohl’s board reaffirmed its commitment to a $500 million accelerated share repurchase (ASR) program after second-quarter results are announced. The company also talked up its partnership with beauty retailer Sephora and a plan to open 100 smaller-format locations as part of a plan to grow the business. However, for the second quarter the company now expects sales to be down high-single digits year-over-year versus previous guidance for down low-single digits. The FactSet consensus is for sales of $4.127 billion, implying a 2.3% decline. The company will announce second-quarter results on August 18. Kohl’s stock is down 27.7% for the year to date.
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