Rick Aristotle Munarriz: Dress Barn Lassos Tweens

How concerned are you about North Korea's nuclear arsenal? Even specialty apparel retail is getting hit with the acquisition bug. Dress Barn (Nasdaq: DBRN) is acquiring Tween Brands (NYSE: TWB) in an all-stock transaction. Tween Brands stockholders will receive 0.47 shares of Dress Barn for every share they own. Wall Street likes the deal. Usually you'll see an acquiring company's stock take a hit as its buyout target rises in a stock deal, but the market was sending both stocks higher this morning. Maybe Mr. Market is just in shock. For starters, most specialty retailers have been heading in the opposite direction and shedding concepts lately. Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) is undoing its Ruehl chain. Talbots (NYSE: TLB) is dumping J. Jill and handing it over to a private equity firm. And Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) is kicking... [read full story]                    

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