Cost Plus Rejects Pier 1’s Unsolicited Proposal

June 15, 2008  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on June 2008 Cost Plus Inc., Oakland, Calif., announced that its board of directors has unanimously rejected Fort Worth, Texas-based Pier 1 Imports Inc.’s merger proposal.

In a letter dated today to Pier 1 President and CEO Alexander Smith and Chairman Tom Thomas, Cost Plus’ board said the stock-for-stock merger is not in the best interests of Cost Plus and its shareholders from neither a financial nor strategic perspective.

“We believe that our strategic plan, which is yielding positive results, will provide Cost Plus shareholders with superior and compelling long-term value as an independent company,” the letter said. “Despite your statements to the contrary, Cost Plus has significant liquidity to pursue its business objectives and to deliver improvement in our core business metrics.”

The letter also characterized Pier 1’s proposal as “both distracting and ill-timed given the difficult retail environment and the progress we have made investing in and improving our business. We believe that our shareholders want us to remain focused on our business and provide superior operational execution.”

Cost Plus,a leading specialty retailer of casual home living and entertaining products, currently operates 296 stores in 33 states.