Children's Place Former CEO Considering Bid for Company

New York City Ezra Dabah, the former CEO of Children's Place Retail Stores Inc., said on Thursday he was confident he could make a bid to buy the company for $24 a share, sending its shares up 18% in pre-market trading.

Dabah said he had received interest from private equity firm Golden Gate Capital to be a participant in the deal.

Dabah resigned as CEO last September after an internal probe found he did not comply with the company's securities-trading policies.

The SEC filing comes the same day that Children's Place said its sales at stores open at least a year rose a better-than-expected 6% in January. Wall Street on average had been expecting a same-store sales gain of 2.5%, according to Reuters Estimates. Same-store sales rose 9% at the Children's Place brand and 2% at the company's Disney Store chain.