Hudson’s Bay said Monday it has agreed to a higher offer from a group of shareholders led by its executive chairman Richard Baker to take the struggling Canadian department store chain private.

The group has offered C$10.30 (US$7.86) per share in cash for the 43 percent of shares it does not own, representing a premium of about 9 percent to the company’s closing price Friday.

The deal comes at a time when the owner of luxury department store chain Saks Fifth Avenue has been closing underperforming stores to cut costs as it competes with discount direct-to-consumer brands and Amazon.

The group led by Baker, who owns 6.3 percent, had offered C$1.74 billion, or C$9.45 per share, in June, but a special panel of the company said it was “inadequate.”

Baker’s first bid was opposed by shareholders including activist investor John Litt, who called the offer “woefully inadequate.”

Private equity firm Paradise Developments, which owns a 0.7 percent stake, had urged the company’s board to negotiate for a better price or reject the offer.