BELLEVUE, Wash. — Outdoor clothier Eddie Bauer may seek bankruptcy protection as soon as this week, according to five people with knowledge of the discussions. The shares lost half their value.
Hilco Consumer Capital has expressed interest in bidding on the company’s assets, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks aren’t public. CCMP Capital Advisors, a private-equity firm based in New York, may also make an offer for the retailer, which is being advised by Peter J. Solomon Co., the people said.
Eddie Bauer fell 24 cents to 24 cents in Nasdaq trading. Shares have lost 54 percent this year.
Eddie Bauer, which opened its first sporting- goods store in Seattle in 1920, has reported annual losses for the past three years. The Bellevue-based company operates about 370 stores in the U.S. and Canada. The company operates 14 stores along the Front Range with 10 in the Denver-Boulder area. No final decision has been made about a bankruptcy filing, according to people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg News
