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Authentic Brands Group has snagged another high-profile prize: Forever 21.
On Wednesday, the company said it was successful in acquiring the bankrupt fast-fashion retailer in partnership with Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Partners. Under the terms of the deal, ABG and Simon will each own 37.5 percent and Brookfield will own 25 percent of the intellectual property and operating businesses.
The court approved the ABG-Simon-Brookfield team’s $81.1 million stalking horse bid, but the actual purchase value is arguably much higher when factoring in the liabilities that the buyers had agreed to assume. In addition to putting up the purchase price, Forever 21’s advisers told the court last week that the buyer group would provide some $20 million in payments for goods Forever 21 has accepted in recent weeks, as well as up to an additional $53 million for other goods it is bringing in. The buyers would also assume what the creditors’ committee has estimated would be “hundreds of millions of dollars” worth of purchase orders for goods that are in transit or which haven’t left vendors’ warehouses. The buyers had also said they would pay Forever 21’s rent for February.
“The real purchase price is around $300 million,” said Jamie Salter, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of ABG. “It’s an operating business so we’re getting working capital from it.”
He said the hope is to keep all 448 stores in the U.S. open along with the “couple hundred” more that the retailer had operated around the globe. “We’re fairly confident that the landlords will be supportive of our business plan,” Salter added. “If they are, the stores will remain open. If they’re not, they won’t.”
That plan centers around a few key points, notably the improvement of systems, sourcing and just an overall tightening of operations. “They [former management] expanded the business too fast, but we...