At a federal bankruptcy court hearing earlier this month, Judge Bruce W. Black approved British private equity firm Emerisque as the "stalking horse" bidder to purchase struggling suitmaker Hartmarx, Inc.  Black also set today, June 22, as the deadline for interested parties to submit higher bids for the company. 

The hope among the local workers and union leaders is that Emerisque will remain the top bidder and ultimately buy the company later this month (though this schedule could be extended).  The firm has indicated it intends to keep the company's 4,000 employees in the United States, including 1,000 here in Illinois.  If another company exceeds Emerisque's bid -- and there were several interested parties on hand at the last hearing -- then anxieties are sure to rise over their intentions.

We'll have an update later in the day on any additional bidders.  In the meantime, we've recapped the entire Hartmarx saga here for those who want to learn more.

UPDATE (1:45 p.m.): The Sun-Times reports that Hartmarx is considering five bidders in addition to Emerisque.  No word on how many are interested in keeping the company intact here in the U.S. 

Image courtesy of Heather Stone.