Business digest : Men's Wearhouse Gets Hostile With Jos. A. Bank

Men’s Wearhouse (MW) got tougher in its quest for Jos. A. Bank Clothiers (JOSB), and the prospect of a hostile merger drove up shares of both companies Monday.

Men’s Wearhouse raised its bid to $57.50 a share from $55 and said it would push to put two directors on Jos. A. Bank’s board.

On Dec. 23, Jos. A Bank’s board unanimously rejected an early on offer, which came as a counterbid to an offer it made for larger rival Men’s Wearhouse.

In an argument Monday, Men’s Wearhouse said it was using the gloves off.

“While it is our strong preference to work collaboratively with Jos. A. Bank to realize the benefits of this transaction, we’re continuing to carefully consider all of our choices to make this combination a reality,” the chain said.

For its part Men’s Wearhouse is appealing straight to Jos. A. Bank shareholders to approve the deal and it has nominated two new directors, former Miller Brewing Co. CEO John Bowlin and Macy’s East CEO Arthur Reiner, to run independently for seats around the Jos. A. Bank board of directors. “Our $57.50 per share proposal to get Jos. A. Bank is compelling and provides substantial value and immediate liquidity to Jos. A. Bank shareholders,” says Men’s Wearhouse CEO Doug Ewert. “Although we’ve made clear our strong preference to work collaboratively with Jos. A. Bank to realize the benefits of this transaction, we’re dedicated to this combination and, accordingly, we are taking our offer straight to shareholders.”

Men’s Wearhouse says its current offers are good until March 28. Jos. A. Bank says it’ll make another recommendation to shareholders by Jan. 17.

If the two retail chains ultimately merge, the end result would be been a combined e-commerce operation with annual web sales of approximately $160 million, based on the Internet Retailer Top 500, CORRECT? and combined monthly visits of 3.Six million and monthly unique visitors of 1.4 million, according to web site measurement firm Compete Inc.