Bankrupt Brooks Brothers gets $305M stalking-horse bid

Authentic, Simon plot as retailer plans to close 51 US stores

Authentic Brands Group CEO Jamie Salter and Simon Property Group CEO David Simon with Brooks Brothers (Getty)
Authentic Brands Group CEO Jamie Salter and Simon Property Group CEO David Simon with Brooks Brothers (Getty)

A familiar team is vying for the bankrupt men’s clothier Brooks Brothers Group.

An entity backed by Authentic Brands Group and Simon Property Group submitted a $305 million bid as part of a court-supervised auction for the troubled brand, Bloomberg reported. Brooks Brothers announced its Chapter 11 bankruptcy July 8.

Simon Property Group, the country’s largest mall operator, has frequently paired with Authentic Brands to rescue bankrupt retailers.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Their offer, known as a stalking horse bid, establishes a minimum price for the auction. Brooks Brothers has until Aug. 5 to find a higher bidder. Any bid other than the stalking horse would include a break-up fee of $9.1 million plus expenses of as much as $1 million.

When Brooks Brothers filed for bankruptcy, it said it would close 51 U.S. stores out of its global portfolio of 500 spread over 45 countries. Some 200 are in North America.

The brand’s decline began well before the coronavirus. It struggled first with the shift to casual office wear and then with changing consumer habits as many switched to online shopping. Then the pandemic kept customers away from brick-and-mortar retailers. [Bloomberg] — Georgia Kromrei