Kohl's on Friday adopted a shareholder right plans to protect itself from hostile takeovers, days after receiving buyout offers that the retailer said undervalued it. Last month, activist investor Starboard Value-backed Acacia Research Corp offered to buy the department-store chain for $64 a share, valuing it at roughly $9bn. Kohl's said on Thursday the offers did not adequately reflect its future growth and cash flow generation. It has hired Goldman Sachs to engage in talks with interested parties about a potential sale. The company also said the shareholder rights plan, popularly known as a ‘poison pill’, expires in February 2023. The rights will be exercisable if a person or group, other than passive institutional investors, acquires a stake of 10% or more. Poison pills make a proposed takeover more expensive or difficult by allowing existing shareholders to buy additional shares at a discount, diluting a hostile suitor's ownership stake.