Men's Wearhouse Says Prepared To Increase Offer For Jos. A. Bank Clothiers

(RTTNews) - Men's Wearhouse (MW) said Thursday that it is prepared to increase its offer for Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. (JOSB), if additional value was discovered through discussions or limited due diligence.

In a letter to the independent directors of Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Men's Wearhouse urged them to form a special committee of independent directors to re-consider Men's Wearhouse's $1.6 billion offer and the JOSB Board's decision to reject it.

As previously indicated, Men's Wearhouse has formally submitted its notice to nominate two independent director candidates, John Bowlin and Arthur Reiner, for election to the Jos. A. Bank Board of Directors at its 2014 Annual Meeting.

On 17th January, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers rejected Men's Wearhouse's hostile tender offer as the offer was inadequate from a financial point of view and not in the best interest of Jos. A. Bank's shareholders.

On January 6, Men's Wearhouse launched a hostile sweetened offer of $57.50 per share to acquire smaller peer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers in an all-cash deal valued at about $1.6 billion. The move came just over a month after Jos. A. Bank rejected Men's Wearhouse's initial $55.00 per share offer, and 45 days after Jos. A. Bank withdrew its acquisition offer for Men's Wearhouse.

The tender offer is scheduled to expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time on Friday, March 28, 2014, unless the offer is extended.

The flurry of acquisition bids between Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank began about three months back.

Hampstead, Maryland-based Jos. A. Bank had initially on October 9 offered to acquire Men's Wearhouse for $48 per share in cash, which Men's Wearhouse immediately rejected, stating it significantly undervalues the company and its strong prospects for continued growth and value creation.

Jos. A. Bank withdrew its $2.3 billion all-cash offer for Men's Wearhouse in mid-November, saying the Men's Wearhouse board failed to engage in good faith negotiations by a November 14 deadline.

Men's Wearhouse then in late November made its initial counter offer to acquire Jos. A. Bank in an all-cash deal valued at about $1.2 billion, just ten days after Jos. A. Bank withdrew its offer for Men's Wearhouse.