Oppenheimer: Talbots Board Not Likely to Accept Sycamore Partners' $3/share Offer

Oppenheimer has published a research report on Talbots

after the company was offered an unsolicited $3/share buyout offer from private equity firm Sycamore Partners. In the report, Oppenheimer writes, "Sycamore first disclosed a 9.9% stake in August. Since then, the stock price has dramatically deteriorated. Sycamore indicated prior overtures to the board of directors hadn't been recognized and in a letter cited the chief creative officer's departure, lackluster 2Q/3Q results and concerns regarding liquidity, in conjunction with early holiday performance, as causes for immediate action. TLB responded that it will review the proposal. Given that Sycamore also said it would be willing to raise the offer if it could do a deeper dive into the books, we do not believe the board will accept the $3 offer." Oppenheimer maintains its Outperform rating and $4 price target on Talbots, which is currently trading up $0.93 from yesterday's $1.56 closing price.