Investors group puts merchant Blair into play

A group of shareholders in Warren, PA-based Blair Corp. has made a bid to buy the entire company, Blair reports. Led by Golden Gate Capital and subsidiary Appleseed`s Topco Inc., the group, which currently owns 8.1% of the company, has offered $37.50 a share. Blair, online and catalog retailer of mid-range apparel and home furnishings, has 3.84 million share outstanding, putting the purchase price at $144 million.

Blair, No. 95 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, has not reported full-year 2006 numbers yet, but in the first nine months, which ended Sept. 30, 2006, it recorded a loss of $5.7 million on $312 million in revenue. For the full year of 2005, the company earned $31.5 million on revenue of $456.6 million.

The announcement came after the markets closed yesterday. Blair’s stock, traded on the American Stock Exchange, yesterday closed at $36.10 a share. It stood at $37.56 at mid day today.

Blair’s vice president of marketing Jeff Parnell is speaking at Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition, June 4-7 in San Jose, in a session entitled Making E-Retailing Music: When IT and Marketing Harmonize.