Bid to Go Private Lifts St. John Knits Stock

St. John Knits Inc.’s stock jumped 22% Wednesday, one day after the founders announced they intend to buy all shares of the Irvine company and take it private.

The stock closed at $26.75, up $4.81 a share. More than 1.9 million shares changed hands, almost 11 times average daily volume for the past three months. Early in the session, the shares traded as high as $27.94 before retreating.

The company announced Tuesday after the market closed that Chief Executive Robert E. Gray and his family have offered to buy all the shares they don’t already own for $28 per share, or about $490 million in cash. Gray, his wife, Marie St. John Gray, and their daughter, Kelly Gray, own 13.6% of the company’s shares. Marie Gray is the company’s vice chairwoman and chief designer, and Kelly Gray is president of the maker of upscale women’s apparel.

The company has said its board will appoint an independent committee to study the offer. St. John’s board currently consists of the three Grays, Chief Financial Officer Roger G. Ruppert, attorney David A. Krinsky and Richard A. Gadbois III, senior vice president of corporate executive services for Merrill Lynch & Co.