Syms to relist stock on Nasdaq

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., Feb. 12 - Syms Corp. announced it is re-registering its common stock with the Securities and Exchange Commission even though its listing on the Pink Sheets provided "more than enough liquidity" for shareholders. The company will apply to list its shares on the Nasdaq.

Originally Syms deregistered to avoid the "financial and administrative burdens" of being a SEC reporting company. The decision to deregister was made after multiple meetings of the company's board, a special committee of directors and independent advisers. Syms also delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.

"We know our decision to deregister was the right decision for our company and its shareholders," chief executive officer Marcy Syms said in a company news release.

"Regrettably, some shareholders disagreed, sued, and mounted a concerted campaign to force the reregistration of our shares. We chose to deregister to save money. We are reregistering for the same reason. We have no intention of wasting further time and money on litigation," Syms added.

In January, a group of Syms stockholders led by Barington Capital Group, LP and Esopus Creek Advisors LLC asked the company's board to reconsider its decision to delist.

The investor group filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of the State of New Jersey, Chancery Division - Bergen County, against Syms' board of directors alleging that the directors breached their fiduciary duties in causing the company to delist its common stock and deregister its shares, a prior news release stated.

Marcy Syms said the Barington lawsuit was completely without merit and "designed to advance some secret Barington agenda."

As previously reported, the group, with a 9.7% stake in the company, believed the delisting would "destroy shareholder value for the company's public stockholders."

Barrington had encouraged Syms shareholders to register their shares in their owns names since Syms could not deregister if it had 300 or more stockholders of record. The investor maintained there are over 1,000 Syms stockholders.

Syms is a Secaucus, N.J.-based off-price retailer.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.