The Wall Street Journal-20080204-O-Reilly Automotive Inc-- Offer to Buy Rival CSK Is Announced to Public
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O'Reilly Automotive Inc.: Offer to Buy Rival CSK Is Announced to Public
Full Text (132 words)O'Reilly Automotive Inc. Friday took public its $355 million offer to buy fellow auto-parts retailer CSK Auto Corp., whose stock has cratered in the past year. The $8-a-share offer represents a 34% premium to CSK's closing price Thursday. CSK's shares traded at $8.98 on the New York Stock Exchange Friday. O'Reilly is also offering to assume $490 million in debt. In a letter to CSK's board, O'Reilly Chief Executive Greg Henslee said it was announcing the offer after failing "to move forward privately," saying it regrets "that our prior conversations have not been more fruitful." He said in the letter that O'Reilly first approached CSK in March. Since then, CSK's shares have fallen 66%; O'Reilly's are down 13%. O'Reilly has 1,830 stores in 26 states; CSK has 1,349 stores in 22 states.
