Eddie Bauer asset sale OK’d

SEATTLE – Bellevue, Wash.,-based retailer Eddie Bauer received bankruptcy court approval Wednesday to sell its assets to San Francisco private-equity firm Golden Gate Capital for $286 million.

Golden Gate will take Eddie Bauer private and continue to operate it as a multichannel retailer, selling online as well as in stores throughout the United States and Canada. People involved with the process say Golden Gate will keep open 300 of Eddie Bauer’s 370 stores.

The sale is expected to become final in early August.

Eddie Bauer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection last month in Delaware, citing a crushing debt burden and the impact of the recession.