Senior Managers Among Suitors for Montgomery Ward, Mobil Says

CHICAGO —  Montgomery Ward & Co., the revitalized 115-year-old department store chain, may be put up for sale, its parent said Thursday. Potential transactions reportedly include a buyout by senior management.

“A leveraged buyout would make sense,” said Karen Sack, a retail analyst with Standard & Poor’s Corp. in New York. “I think management obviously has proved themselves in turning the company around . . . and refocusing their strategy as a special retailer.”

If they took over the company, “I would think they would continue to do well,” Sack said.

Mobil Corp., which bought Ward in 1976, confirmed that it had received inquiries about the possible sale of the chain, which is on the rise after years of decline. It has about 300 stores.

In a statement released Thursday, Mobil said it “has received a number of inquiries over the past months from potential investors regarding the possible purchase of Montgomery Ward as a going concern.

“Mobil has provided information to a number of these potential investors and is working with them to determine the extent of their interests. Montgomery Ward management has indicated it will cooperate . . . and is also interested in becoming an investor in Montgomery Ward.”

The statement emphasized that the New York-based oil giant had not received a purchase offer “and would not entertain a proposal until all interested parties” have had time “to examine information provided to them.”

Debbie Urso, a spokeswoman, said she could not comment beyond the statement.

The New York Times reported Thursday that Ward Chairman Bernard Brennan and other company managers had submitted a bid of more than $1 billion for a leveraged buyout of the nation’s eighth-largest general retailer.

In a leveraged buyout, investors borrow heavily to buy out a company and then pay off the debt with the firm’s cash flow or the sale of assets.

Brennan was not available for comment.

THE NATION’S BIGGEST GENERAL RETAILERS Here are the nation’s nine largest retailers, ranked by sales through the first 11 months of the retail fiscal year, which ends with January:

Sales Retailer in billions 1. Sears, Roebuck $28.29 2. K mart 24.15 3. Wal-Mart Stores 14.82 4. J. C. Penney 13.26 5. Federated Dept. Stores 10.49 6. Dayton Hudson 9.87 7. May Dept. Stores 9.83 8. Montgomery Ward 4.35 9. F. W. Woolworth 3.93 10. R. H. Macy (private; does not report monthly sales)

Source: Associated Press