Fred's hired MLCO as its banker about eighteen months back. Looked at strategic alternatives...said there was interest by multiple parties. Market collapsed, private equity buyers went away, Fred's plodded along. Now a year or so later, Fred's mgmt team can't get its stock up....fully missed the rally in discounters/dollar stores....they neeed to wake up and sell this company to the highest bidder. Can't get the job done on their own. Better credit markets should enable potential buyers to put together something to put this thing out of its misery.