Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, (NASDAQ: JOSB) is prepared to up its proposed acquisition price for Men's Wearhouse, (TLRD), according to a statement released today.
After initially offering $48 per share on Sept. 18, Jos. A Bank Chairman Robert Wildrick sent an open letter to Men's Wearhouse CEO Douglas Ewert today, outlining the possibility of a premium offer if the company engages in "good faith discussions" by Nov. 14.
The $48-per-share offer values Men's Wearhouse at $2.3 billion, an amount that the acquisition target says is "highly opportunistic" and embedded in a "highly conditional" proposal, according to a presentation outlining Men's Wearhouse's reasons for its initial rejection.
Wildrick's letter outlines rebuttals to each of the Wearhouse's objections, and notes:
We believe that your shareholders would be best served by your providing us with a limited amount of non-public information so that we can advise you whether we can improve our price. You can then responsibly compare your stand-alone prospects with the value of our revised proposal. Before you foreclose our offer from your investors, we would hope and expect that you would evaluate in an informed manner the alternatives to create shareholder value.
At the time of this writing, Men's Wearhouse had not officially responded to the letter.
