Jos. A. Bank Clothiers tightened its poison pill requirements on Friday, the latest move in its continuing takeover battle with Men’s Wearhouse.
The company announced it had reduced the ownership threshold of its shareholder rights plan to 10 percent from 20 percent, meaning that if Men’s Wearhouse or any other unsolicited buyer acquires 10 percent of Jos. A. Bank’s stock, the company will issue a large number of shares to existing shareholders.
The move will help fortify Jos. A. Bank against future takeover bids from its larger rival Men’s Wearhouse, which made a $1.5 billion bid in November.
The two companies have been fighting to take each other over for months. In October, Men’s Wearhouse rejected its smaller rival’s unsolicited $2.3 billion bid, putting its own 10 percent shareholder rights plan in place. In what’s known as a “Pac-Man†maneuver, the company then turned the tables and tried to acquire Jos. A. Bank.
In a statement announcing the change to its shareholder rights plan, Jos. A. Bank said that matching Men’s Wearhouse’s poison pill threshold protected investors by “leveling the playing field.†It also said that the “hostile†actions of Men’s Wearhouse were “not in the best interest of the company’s shareholders.â€
The company declined to comment beyond a statement. A spokesman for Men’s Wearhouse declined to comment.
Both retailers share a number of overlapping owners, including BlackRock, one of both companies’ largest shareholders, with more than an 8 percent stake in each.
Other overlapping shareholders include the mutual fund company Vanguard and the hedge fund Eminence Capital. If investors saw cost-saving and synergies between both companies, they could potentially help push a deal through.
