Kenneth Cole Looks for a Cheap Deal From Shareholders

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - It's not just Kenneth Cole shoppers that may be in a post-holiday bargain hunting mood.

Clothing designer Kenneth D. Cole may be looking to buy his namesake fashion company at an opportunistic price from existing shareholders with a $15 a share bid for Kenneth Cole Productions (KCP) on Friday.

Citing profitability and competitive challenges, Cole is offering to buy the company at a valuation of $280 million -- or roughly a 26% premium to the company's average stock price in the last 45 days -- but below a post-crisis September 2010 share price high of $16.50.

The move comes at a time when mass-fashion mainstays like Kenneth Cole and Liz Claiborne (LIZ) struggle with post-crisis profitability and insurgents like Michael Kors (KORS) , Lululemon (LULU) and DSW (DSW) report strong earnings.

Kenneth Cole is looking to buy KCP for $15 a share.

But Kenneth Cole may be close to an earnings recovery and the timing of the buyout may be an opportunistic play to get shares on the cheap.

"The market simply has given the company little credit for the value of the brand and the merit of recent turnaround initiatives and we think that Cole recognizes the opportunity to take the company private for cheap, re-build/grow the business with CEO, Paul Blum, and that ultimately would give him the chance to cash out at a substantially higher level," writes Jeff Van Sinderen an analyst with B. Riley & Co. in a note reacting to Friday's bid.

"The proposed transaction values the equity at ~$280M, which is still pretty low, given the licensing stream, brand equity, etc. We would not be surprised to see pressure applied for Cole to raise his bid," adds Van Sinderen. He rates the company's shares a "buy" with a price target of $17.

In his $15 a share offer, Kenneth Cole cited competitive and economic challenges that make it better for the company to operate as a private concern and offered a significant premium for the company's shares, which have rallied strongly in 2012. However, the move may still represent opportunism.