Men's Wearhouse founder says did not push for going private deal

Men's Wearhouse Inc founder George Zimmerman denied on Wednesday that he had pushed for a sale of the apparel retailer before he was fired as executive chairman, insisting that he only presented that suggestion to the board as one option.

The board, in a statement on Tuesday, said Zimmer had pushed for a "risky sale" of Men's Wearhouse to an investor group, a plan that the rest of the directors opposed. The board said it was exploring a potential sale of the company's K&G fashion chain.

Zimmer accused the board of taking steps to marginalize him rather than evaluating the idea of a sale of the whole company or gauging the potential valuation of such a transaction.

The former chairman currently holds a 3.5 percent stake in the company.

The company did not respond immediately with a request for comment.

(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore and Nadia Damouni in New York; editing by Joyjeet Das)