THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 4, 1996 TAG: 9609040432
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
LENGTH: 25 lines
Private investment fund Ocean Reef Management Inc. said Tuesday it offered to buy Best Products Co. for about $62 million, or $2 a share. That's 52 percent more than Best's closing stock price Friday of 1 5/16.
Richmond-based Best is a catalog retailer that owns about 180 stores in 23 states. Best Products officials said it would review the offer.
In trading Tuesday on the Nasdaq stock market, Best shares rose 5/16 to 1 5/8 in trading of 264,700, compared with their three-month daily average of 136,308.
Closely held Ocean Reef recently acquired a controlling interest in L. Luria & Son Inc., which operates 50 specialty retail catalog showrooms in southern and central Florida.
Ocean Reef, of Miami, said it intends to transform Best Products into more of a specialty retailer than catalog retailer. MEMO: Dow Jones News Service and Bloomberg Business News contributed to
this report. by CNB