J. Crew Group Take-Private A Go, After Go-Shop Ends

Target: J. Crew Group Inc.

Buyers: TPG Group and Leonard Green & Partners LP

Offer: $2.86 billion

J Crew Group Inc., which received a controversial $2.86 billion private equity buyout offer, said this month it had received no alternative acquisition proposals during an 85-day “go shop” process, according to sister news service Reuters.

The apparel retailer “engaged in an active and extensive solicitation of 59 potentially interested parties,” which resulted in four parties who negotiated and entered into confidentiality agreements. These did not result in a proposal, however.

Sources previously told Reuters that Sears Holdings Corp, Urban Outfitters Inc. and at least two other private equity firms had been looking at J Crew’s books.

The “go shop” period to solicit competing offers originally expired on Jan. 15 but was extended until Feb. 15 amid pressure from shareholders.

In November, the upscale apparel retailer announced that TPG Group and Leonard Green & Partners LP had agreed to buy the company for $43.50 a share, at a premium of about 15 percent.

The announcement spurred a flood of shareholder lawsuits protesting the share price and asserting that J Crew Chief Executive Millard Drexler breached his fiduciary duties to investors. Drexler had been in discussions with the private equity firms for nearly seven weeks without informing the company’s board, raising questions about corporate governance.

Alexandria Sage is a San Franciso correspondent for Reuters; editing by Bernard Orr and David M. Toll