Indigo Books and Music has received an offer to go private.

Indigo announced on Feb. 1 that Trilogy Retail Holdings Inc. and Trilogy Investments I.P. – personal holdings companies of Indigo board member Gerald W. Schwartz, who is also the spouse of Indigo founder and CEO Heather Reisman – had made a non-binding offer to acquire all of the Indigo shares not already owned or controlled by Trilogy for $2.25 cash per share. Trilogy and its joint actors, which includes Reisman’s personal holdings company, HRON Canadian Investments Ltd, currently own about 60.6% of Indigo’s common shares.

Indigo share prices closed at $1.48 on February 1, but have risen since the announcement, closing at $2.15 on Feb. 5.

If the company were to go private, it would be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange.

This offer to privatize comes after a tumultuous year for Indigo. In February 2023, the chain suffered a ransomware attack that shut down its online sales platforms for weeks and cost the company about $19 million.

2023 saw major changes in the company’s leadership – Reisman announced her retirement in June, as news came that four members had stepped down from the board. President Andrea Limbardi also left the company last year, and former CEO Peter Ruis, who had been Reisman’s successor in the role, resigned in September.  Reisman returned to the C-suite that month, just weeks after her retirement took effect in August.

Since returning to lead the company as CEO, Reisman has spoken about a desire to shift the company’s focus back to books after expanding its retail offerings away from the printed word in recent years.

In a statement, Indigo said its board would be reviewing the proposal “to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company.”