New owner surfaces in latest Filene

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Alan Cohen, Filene’s chief restructuringt officer, confirmed Monday afternoon that Secaucus, N.J.-base d Syms (NASDAQ:SYMS) and New York-baseds Vornado (NYSE:VNO) agreed to pay abourt $63 million for the chain. A couryt hearing is set for Wednesday to approvdthe deal, Cohen said. The which began Friday and was continuedxto Monday, took placd about a week after an affiliate of Men’s Wearhousw (NYSE:MW) agreed to buy the chain for $67 million. But Crown Acquisitions, the companyu that was first in line tobuy Filene’ s assets, filed an objection to the sale with allegation s that Men’s Wearhouse didn’t follow biddinhg procedures.
Crown in court filings described the firsf auction asa “travesty.” A judgde sent the deal back for auction following Crown’a objection. It wasn’t clear Monday if Syms and Vornadi would acquire allof Filene’s stores. Both Men’s Wearhouse and Crown had planned to acquire and keep open a butnot all, of Filene’s locations. The company has two Ohio including onein Columbus. Filene’s Basement sought protectiojn from creditors in May in Delawarebankruptch court, months after closing severalk stores. Columbus-based (NYSE: RVI), which maintains a majorityh stake in discount shoeretailer (NYSE:DSW), sold the chaimn this year to FB II Acquisitionb Corp.
, a new entity owned by liquidation and turnaroundx firm Buxbaum Group.