Price Cancels Bid to Buy Chain After Owner Backs Out
The Price Co. announced Tuesday that its agreement to acquire an 81% interest in TSS-Seedman’s Inc. retail clothing chain based in Brooklyn, N.Y., for $50 million has been canceled at the request of TSS-Seedman majority owner George J. Seedman.
Price Co. spokesman Mitchell Lynn would not comment on Seedman’s reasons for backing out of the deal. Seedman was not available for comment Tuesday evening.
“Seedman expressed his desire to terminate the contract, and Price agreed to termination provided the company was reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses,” the Price Co. said in a prepared statement.
Price’s acquisition agreement, which was announced March 12, met with a favorable response from market analysts, who saw it as a way for Price Co. to enter the metropolitan New York area in one bold stroke. The acquisition was to have closed later this month.
Price then said it would convert “most but not all” of the 12 TSS-Seedman’s stores into Price Club discount merchandising warehouses. The acquisition would be financed with $198 million in cash that Price Co. raised in February through a convertible debenture offering.
TSS-Seedman’s 12 locations average 190,000 square feet in size with ample parking, making them highly suitable for Price Clubs, Price Chairman Sol Price said in March. Price was not available for comment Tuesday evening.
Price Co., which operates 27 Price Clubs in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Maryland and Virginia, will resume its search for Price Club sites in the New York area, Lynn said.
