Sycamore Partners the private equity firm announced last week that it wants to purchase Express Inc the clothing chain. In a regulatory filing with the SEC, it announced it already has a stake of 9.9% in the clothing company.

Express shares surged over 22% last Friday in trading following the announcement of the possible takeover.

Sycamore in an official letter sent to a board of directors at Express, said it wanted to perform its due diligence to determine the price of a takeover for the struggling clothing retailer.

The private equity company said an offer would be submitted within a 30-day period of them gaining access to the books at Express.

The managing director at Sycamore said the company believed that the due diligence process would result in a proposal for acquisition that would benefit the company’s constituents including its shareholders.

Due to the operational and strategic challenges faced today by specialty retailers and the company in particular, a binding, full financed all cash acquisition offer would be valuable as an alternative for the directors of the company and its stockholders to consider.

Express has responded by adopting a measure that is designed to give protection to shareholder known as the Rights Plan, which has a trigger of 10%. It does not prevent the company from considering or even accepting the takeover offer.

On Thursday, Express, based in Columbus, Ohio had a market capitalization of more than $1.14 billion. Prior to the stock surging upwards, Express shares for the past year to date were off more than 38%.

Express, which targets shoppers who are between 20 and 30, would have a value of between $23 and $27 per share in a takeover compared to buyouts recently. That would mean the premium would be approximately 67% if accepted by Express.

Buyers of clothing retailers in the U.S. for the last five years have paid an average of 9.3 times the trailing earnings for 12 months prior to taxes, interest, amortization and depreciations said one online financial research firm.