Claire's Stores, Inc. Announces Shareholder Approval of Proposed Merger

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Claire's Stores, Inc. Announces Shareholder Approval of Proposed Merger
    PEMBROKE PINES, Fla., May 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Claire's Stores,
Inc. (NYSE: CLE) today announced that an overwhelming majority of the
Company's shareholders voted to approve the merger agreement providing for
the merger of the Company with an affiliate of Apollo Management, L.P. The
number of votes cast for approval of the merger agreement represented
approximately 75% of the combined voting power of the Company's common
stock and Class A common stock outstanding and entitled to vote.
    Upon the closing of the merger, the Company's shareholders will be
entitled to receive $33.00 in cash, without interest, for each share of
Claire's common stock and Class A common stock. The parties currently
expect the merger to close next week.
    Company Overview
    Claire's Stores, Inc. is a leading international specialty retailer
offering value-priced costume jewelry and accessories to fashion-aware
tweens, teens and young adult females through its two store concepts:
Claire's and Icing by Claire's. While the latter operates only in North
America, Claire's operates internationally. As of May 5, 2007, Claire's
Stores, Inc. operated approximately 3,000 stores in the United States,
Canada, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the United Kingdom, Ireland,
France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and the
Netherlands. Claire's Stores, Inc. operates through its subsidiary,
Claire's Nippon, Co., Ltd., approximately 205 stores in Japan as a 50:50
joint venture with AEON, Co., Ltd. (fka JUSCO, Co. Ltd.), a $40 billion
specialty retailer headquartered in Japan. The Company also franchises
approximately 145 stores in the Middle East, Turkey, Russia and South
Africa.
    Forward-looking Statements
    This press release contains "forward-looking statements" which
represent the Company's expectations or beliefs with respect to future
events. Statements that are not historical are considered forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those anticipated. Those factors include, without limitation: changes in
consumer preferences and consumer spending for pre-teen, teen and young
adult apparel and accessories; competition; general economic conditions
such as inflation and increased energy costs; general and political social
conditions such as war, political unrest and terrorism; natural disasters
or severe weather events; currency fluctuations and exchange rate
adjustments; changes in laws; uncertainties generally associated with the
specialty retailing business; disruptions in our supply of inventory;
inability to increase comparable store sales at recent historical rates;
inability to design and implement new information systems; delays in
anticipated store openings or renovations; uncertainty that definitive
financial results may differ from preliminary financial results due to,
among other things, final GAAP adjustments and other changes to comply with
applicable laws, rules and regulations; the reactions of the Company's
customers and suppliers to the transaction; and diversion of management
time on merger-related issues. These and other applicable risks, cautionary
statements and factors that could cause actual results to differ from the
Company's forward-looking statements are included in the Company's filings
with the SEC, specifically as described in the Company's Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 3, 2007. The Company
undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements
to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. The historical results
contained in this press release are not necessarily indicative of the
future performance of the Company.
    Additional Information
    Note: Other Claire's Stores, Inc. press releases, a corporate profile
and most recent 10-K and 10-Q reports are available via Claire's corporate
website: http://www.clairestores.com. For information about our products
and stores, please go to http://www.claires.com.
SOURCE Claire's Stores, Inc.
http://www.clairestores.com
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/174913.html /
CONTACT:
Marisa F. Jacobs, Esq., Vice President of
Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, +1-212-594-3127,
Fax, +1-212-244-4237, marisa.jacobs@claires.com