If you can’t buy ’em, merge with ’em? After two unsuccessful attempts at buying women’s apparel cataloger/retailer J. Jill Group (see “Claiborne Offers $366 Million for J. Jill”), apparel conglomerate Liz Claiborne announced that it has entered into a confidentiality agreement to participate in J. Jill’s exploration of its strategic alternatives, which include a possible merger with Liz Claiborne. Both parties would not comment further although according to a company release, Liz Claiborne expects due diligence process to commence shortly.