Tarrant Chiefs Call for Shareholder Vote in August
The plan to transform Tarrant Apparel Group from a publicly traded company to a privately held entity could take place in the next few weeks.
The company—which makes private-label clothing for Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Chico’s and New York & Co., as well as the American Rag label for Macy’s—has called for a shareholders meeting on Aug. 21, during which stockholders will vote on whether to approve the deal. The meeting will be held at the apparel group’s headquarters, located at 801 S. Figueroa St., suite 2500, in downtown Los Angeles.
Gerard Guez, chairman of the board and interim chief executive, and Todd Kay, vice chairman, want to buy Tarrant through their wholly owned organization, Sunrise Acquisition Co., and its subsidiary, Sunrise Merger Co. The deal, valued at $15.2 million, was first talked about in April 2008.
Guez and Kay are proposing to pay 85 cents a share for all outstanding stock they don’t already own. Most recently, Tarrant Apparel stock was trading at about 79 cents a share on the NASDAQ.
Guez founded the company in 1985 primarily as a maker of private-label blue jeans. Kay owns 41.5 percent of the shares. The deal must be approved by 66.6 percent of shareholders who held stock as of July 6.—Deborah Belgum
