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Some investors are fretting that off-price clothier Syms is preparing for a special kind of liquidation sale — resulting in a potential bargain for company chief Marcy Syms.
Confirming yesterday’s exclusive report in The Post, the 52-year-old apparel chain said it has hired investment bank Rothschild to explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company.
In the wake of the news, shares in Secaucus, NJ-based Syms soared 27 percent, or $2.04, to $9.49 — a 52-week high.
Nevertheless, worries quickly surfaced when Rothschild told at least one prospective bidder yesterday that Syms — headed by Chief Executive Marcy Syms — would only entertain bids for the company as a whole, according to sources.
That didn’t sit well with some investors, who have argued the money-losing, 49-unit Syms could fetch far more by cutting individual deals to sell off its valuable real estate.
As first reported by The Post, real estate firm Capstone Equities last week urged Syms to consider selling its property, estimating it could be worth $200 million, well north of yesterday’s market capitalization of $137 million.
“Our analysis suggests that the market value of the sum of the company’s parts may substantially exceed the value of the whole,” Esopus Creek Advisors, an activist investor and longtime Syms shareholder, told the board yesterday in a letter obtained by The Post.
A spokeswoman for the chain declined to comment, and Esopus Creek also declined to comment. Officials at Rothschild couldn’t be reached for comment.
A lurking fear among some investors is that the company’s chief, daughter of the late founder Sy Syms, is angling to find a financial partner to help her take the retailer private before pursuing a lucrative strategy to capitalize on the value of Syms’ properties.
“If this company is sold in one piece, it’s the buyer who will make all the money with the real estate and the shareholders will be cut out of it,” one investor griped.
In December 2007, Syms spurred a shareholder revolt when it delisted the company’s shares, sending them plunging 40 percent.
It was later revealed by The Post that only a week later Syms had cut a deal to buy the developmental air rights of its flagship in the financial district located at 42 Trinity Pl.
At the time, New York real estate sources said the downtown site might be worth as much as $75 million if it were developed into a skyscraper.
This year, however, some sources close to the company are skeptical whether Syms’ properties could fetch the bonanza-like prices.
“They’ve got at least three excellent properties,” one source close to the company told The Post, referring to the Trinity Place flagship, as well as locations in White Plains and Westbury, LI.
But “finding a buyer for a lot of the other stuff could be tough,” the source said, noting “the business itself is losing money and will probably need to be shut down.” james.covert@nypost.com