Sears outbids Catterton on Restoration Hardware   

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 11/26/2007 11:52:00 AM

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – By proposing an all-cash bid of $6.75 per share in its acquisition move on Restoration Hardware (RH), retail conglomerate Sears Holdings has surpassed the $267 million bid made Nov. 8 by investment firm Catterton Partners.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission today, Sears amended its Nov. 19 filing to the effect of noting it had sent a Nov. 23 letter to RH proposing to make a cash offer of $6.75 per share and stating that its merger offer would include “a lower, more reasonable break-up fee” than that contained in the Catterton offer.

The Catterton offer (proposed through its Home Holdings entity) was set at $6.70 per share.

In negotiations that followed on Sunday, Nov. 25, the special committee of the RH board of directors rebuffed Sears’ request to enter into a confidentiality agreement, the filing also notes. Sears said in its letter to RH that it would need more than the current, publicly available information on the company, in order to make its bid.

Sears Holdings became the largest stockholder in RH with a recent purchase of 13.7% of voting shares.