A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge on Friday approved a $163 million acquisition of discount clothing chain Steve & Barry's.

BHY Holdings LLC, an affiliate of investment firms Bay Harbour Management and York Capital Management, said earlier this week it had won a bid to buy Steve & Barry's for $168 million. A company representative was not immediately available to discuss the court's decision or say why the purchase price had changed.

The deal went before U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Allan Gropper in New York on Thursday and Friday. The acquisition is expected to be completed Monday.

Steve & Barry's LLC, based in Port Washington, N.Y., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July after ambitious growth plans were hurt by slower spending by consumers and the credit squeeze.

Under the terms of the deal, the new owners will acquire nearly all the assets of Steve & Barry's and keep the majority of it 276 stores open. The new ownership said it will decide within a week which stores will close based on their profitability.

Bay Harbour does have experience in purchasing distressed companies and turning them around. The firm bought retailer Barneys New York out of bankruptcy before selling it to Jones Apparel Group Inc. And its holdings include the former Aladdin Casino, which is now operating on the Las Vegas strip as the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino following a rebranding.

Steve Eisner, once a fixture of Baltimore social circles and its business community, has filed for personal bankruptcy.

The former chairman of Eisner Communications Inc. and wife Sara Eisner jointly filed Chapter 7 on Feb. 21, almost a year and a halfafter his advertising agency collapsed.

The pair listed $4 million in liabilities and $50,000 in assets,which include a 2004 Honda with 80,000 miles, a string of freshwater pearls and gold cuff links, according to the filing in Baltimore's U.S.District Court. Sara Eisner, who also goes by Sara Milstein, was the company's chief operating officer.

For some former Eisner employees, the news represented an unfortunate chapter in the fallout from the closure of the advertising firm that once boasted national clients like US Airways.