Solomon Partners Advised Len Riggio on the Sale of Barnes & Noble to Elliott Management
Solomon Partners advised Barnes & Noble, Inc. Founder & Chairman Len Riggio on the Company’s sale to Elliott Management in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $683 million.
Elliott’s acquisition of Barnes & Noble, the largest retail bookseller in the United States, follows its June 2018 acquisition of Waterstones, the largest retail bookseller in the United Kingdom. James Daunt, CEO of Waterstones, will assume also the role of CEO of Barnes & Noble following the completion of the transaction and will be based in New York.
Elliott Management manages two multi-strategy funds which combined have approximately $34 billion of assets under management. Its flagship fund, Elliott Associates, L.P., was founded in 1977, making it one of the oldest funds of its kind under continuous management. The Elliott funds’ investors include pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, funds-of-funds, and employees of the firm.
Waterstones is the UK and Ireland’s leading high street bookseller with 293 bookshops, including Foyles, Hatchards, Hodges Figgis and branches in Ireland, Brussels and Amsterdam. It is the only national specialist book retailer of scale in the UK, and operates also through the e-commerce site, Waterstones.com.
The Solomon Partners transaction team was led by Rich Brail, Head of Media & Entertainment, and included Adam Jaffe and W. Sean Leahy.
