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Outfitter mulls purchase of rival Eddie Bauer

Friday, May 2, 2003 | 10:04 a.m.

PORTLAND, Maine -- L.L. Bean is considering the purchase of all or part of rival outfitter Eddie Bauer whose corporate parent Spiegel Inc. is going through bankruptcy reorganization.

The purchase of Bauer would double the sales of Freeport-based Bean and provide a huge boost to its efforts to make retail stores a more substantial part of a business that relies heavily on mail order.

Rich Donaldson, a Bean spokesman, said the company informed the U.S. Bankruptcy Court handling the Spiegel case in New York that it wants to be kept up to date on developments.

"We have effectively expressed our interest in knowing what assets coming out of those proceedings might become available," Donaldson said. "We are curious to know about the potential of any of those Bauer assets with Bean's current growth strategies."

Bauer, which is based in Redmond, Wash., has more than 500 stores nationwide, a catalog arm that does more than 100 million mailings each year, several Web-based retail sites, a high-profile brand and sales of $1.4 billion in 2002.

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