Citi Reports On Liberty Plans For Barnes & Noble

According to Citi, Liberty Capital

announced its intention to acquire Barnes and Noble (

) for $17 per share (20% premium to 5/19/11 share price of ~$14), or about $1 billion in an all cash-transaction. Citi said that Liberty intends to finance $500 million of the acquisition with debt. “The asset will be to the Liberty Capital tracking stock. If the transaction goes through, Liberty Capital will own around 70% of the equity.” Liberty Capital closed yesterday at $89.34.