Brooks Bros. Sold to Casual Corner Owner

British retailer Marks & Spencer is selling the venerable Brooks Bros. men’s clothing chain for $225 million in cash to the owner of women’s apparel seller Casual Corner.

The price is less than one-third of the $750 million Marks & Spencer paid for Brooks Bros. in 1988. The transaction, announced Friday, comes eight months after the British retailer put it on the block and is expected to close at the end of Marks & Spencer’s fiscal year in March.

“We think it is one of the best brands, and that was the reason we wanted it,” said Mark Shulman, chief operating officer of Enfield, Conn.-based Retail Brand Alliance, which reached the deal Thursday.

Price was “clearly a factor but not the only factor,” he said Friday. “This puts us in the menswear business, and it is very exciting.”

Brooks Bros., whose business has been challenged by the relaxation of dress codes in the workplace, operates about 160 stores in the U.S. and through partnerships abroad operates about 75 stores in Japan, Hong Kong, Italy and Taiwan. The retailer, established in 1818, generated sales of about $650 million last year.

David Norgrove, international director for Marks & Spencer, said the company was pleased with the terms of the deal given the difficult conditions in the United States since the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Brooks Bros. has a wonderful American heritage and a committed work force, but it was not a good fit with M&S;’ core business or strategic priorities,” he said Friday.

The acquisition of Brooks Bros. is the latest in a string of buys for Retail Brand Alliance. In February, the company purchased the trademark for Adrienne Vittadini, known for its sleek knitwear designs in the 1980s; in July it purchased Carolee Designs, an accessories manufacturer.

President and Chief Executive Claudio Del Vecchio, whose family controls Luxottica Group, owns the company.