Lumber Liquidators Founder Boosts Stake in Pursuit of Chain

(Bloomberg) -- Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. founder Tom Sullivan has boosted his stake in the flooring retailer that he wants to acquire.

On Wednesday, Sullivan executed call options through his F9 Investments LLC fund at $10 a share, increasing his stake to 7.7% from about 6%. The stock rose as much as 11% to $11.18 on Thursday, bringing its two-day advance to almost 20%.

Sullivan told Bloomberg this week that he’s in talks with private-equity firms and banks about taking the retailer private and merging it with his current company, Cabinets To Go. Since then, he’s received additional interest from potential partners, he said Thursday in an interview. Lumber Liquidators hasn’t responded to him yet, he added.

Lumber Liquidators didn’t respond to a request for comment. The company hasn’t addressed a Bloomberg report on Tuesday that Sullivan is pursuing an acquisition.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matt Townsend in New York at mtownsend9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anne Riley Moffat at ariley17@bloomberg.net, Jonathan Roeder

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.