Business

Shareholder calls Jos. A. Bank/Eddie Bauer deal a ploy

You want to buy Eddie Bauer? Go take a hike!

A Jos. A. Bank shareholder on Tuesday blasted the men’s suit retailer’s plan to acquire outdoor clothier Eddie Bauer for nearly $900 million, calling it a “desperate” ploy to save their jobs by fending off a bid from rival Men’s Wearhouse.

Jos. A. Bank announced its Eddie Bauer acquisition last week, claiming it will reap at least $25 million in synergies from the deal, fueled by more efficient use of real estate.

In the letter to Jos. A. Bank’s board that pooh-poohed the deal, Ricky Sandler, chief of the activist hedge fund Eminence Capital, threatened to wage a proxy battle to unseat Jos. A. Bank Chairman Bob Wildrick and CEO Neal Black.

Sandler, whose firm owns 4.9 percent of Jos. A. Bank, likewise vowed to pursue a lawsuit to block the deal, which he has already filed.

“This ‘bet the company’ strategy on Eddie Bauer — a company which we believe offers minimal product or customer overlap and effectively no credible synergies — defies industrial logic in our opinion,” Sandler wrote.

Sandler noted that 40 percent of Eddie Bauer customers are women, while virtually all of Jos. A. Bank’s merchandise is men’s clothing.

Shares of Jos. A. Bank, which had risen slightly after it announced its Eddie Bauer deal, lost 1.7 percent on Tuesday to close at $54.20. Men’s Wearhouse shares closed up 0.8 percent to $44.42.

Wildrick, in an interview with The Post last week, said he sees potential to add up to 150 Eddie Bauer stores to the chain’s current 205 locations.

He added that the deal was preferable to a Men’s Wearhouse tie-up, which he said amounts to a merger of “two companies that are pushed to maturity.”