Barnes & Noble Rises on Speculation of Purchase by Liberty Media
November 14, 2011, 4:43 AM ESTBy Matt Townsend
Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Barnes & Noble Inc., the largest U.S. bookstore chain, rose to the highest in almost three months on speculation that Liberty Media Corp. may buy the rest of the retailer.
Liberty may be setting up a $1.5 billion credit facility to help fund a purchase of Barnes & Noble, Robert Routh, a New York-based analyst for Phoenix Partners Group, wrote in a research note today.
Liberty, based in Englewood, Colorado, and controlled by billionaire John Malone, invested $204 million in the New York- based book retailer in August after dropping its offer to acquire the chain.
Barnes & Noble gained 4.6 percent to $15.80 at 11:02 a.m. in New York, after rising to $16.17 for the highest intraday price since Aug. 12. The shares advanced 26 percent from Nov. 8, when Liberty posted third-quarter results, through yesterday.
Mary Ellen Keating, a spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble, didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment.
--Editors: John Lear, Cecile Daurat
To contact the reporter on this story: Matt Townsend in New York at mtownsend9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net
