Wall Street Bets on $8.5 Billion Fashion Deal’s Fate in FTC Case
- Stock rises 7.5% as investors watch antitrust trial’s closings
- Merger arbitragers went to court as Coach owner fought FTC
US antitrust enforcers’ legal battle to kill an $8.5 billion deal marrying Tapestry Inc.’s Coach and Kate Spade brands with Capri Holdings Ltd.’s Versace and Michael Kors labels hit a critical point on Monday, as a federal judge heard the two sides make their closing arguments — and Capri’s shares surged.
Her decision on whether to freeze the takeover as anticompetitive, as the US Federal Trade Commission has urged, could mean hundreds of millions of dollars to hedge funds and other investors that are betting on the outcome — and have sent specialists to court to figure out which way the trial, and the judge, might be leaning.